U.S. Files Seizure Papers for Tribes’ Casino Games

Federal prosecutors in California began civil forfeiture actions Thursday to remove video gambling machines from Indian reservation casinos in the state.

In court documents filed in Los Angeles, San Diego, San Francisco and Sacramento, the government said the tribes had failed to meet the final deadline this week for reaching agreement with state officials over what kind of gambling activities are permissible at reservation casinos.

While government lawyers pressed their case in court, so did lawyers for the Indian casinos, but without much success. A federal judge in Los Angeles and a federal magistrate in San Francisco rejected Indian requests for temporary restraining orders that would have blocked any federal move to shut down gambling machine operations at the reservations.

Slot machines and other Las Vegas-style gambling--in which a bettor vies against the house--are illegal in California. The Indian casino operators maintain they are sovereign entities and not governed by state laws.

Government prosecutors could have moved summarily to confiscate the 13,000 video machines now in operation at more than 30 California reservations. But Atty. Gen. Janet Reno has long urged her attorneys to move cautiously against the tribes.

Under the suits filed Thursday, the Indian casinos will have an opportunity to defend their use of the machines before a federal judge before any seizure can take place. No dates have been set for the hearings.

Gov. Pete Wilson’s office said that about a dozen tribes have broken ranks with other reservations and signed compacts agreeing to use a type of machine that would allow players to compete against one another instead of the house.