Tribal Casinos Welcome New Slot Machines

The future arrived early in the morning, packed inside 18-wheelers from Nevada.

“It’s been 17 years of struggle,” said Joe Welch Sr., chairman of the Barona tribal gaming commission, as he prepared to break the seal on a truckload of new slot machines Wednesday. “But it’s all been worth it.”

Unleashed by the passage of Proposition 1A in March, Indian tribes across the state are gearing up to offer Nevada-style gambling.

When trucks loaded with new slot machines began arriving this week from manufacturers in Las Vegas and Reno, longtime Barona casino employees and tribal members were moved to tears. Barring a bolt from the courts or politicians, their long fight to offer high-stakes gambling is finally over.

In the legal, political and social struggles over Indian gambling in California, slot machines have been the flash point. Authorities have banned and seized slot machines--particularly the Las Vegas-style “one-armed bandits.”

Casino-running tribes throughout California are racing to install the newly legalized machines, which will offer significantly higher jackpots than the old slot machines because of computerized links with slots at other Indian casinos in California and other states.

If the hoopla bears out, payoffs in the millions will become common.

Some of the 700-plus machines coming to Barona’s rural casino 30 miles east of San Diego will offer something heretofore missing: the distinctive plink-plink-plink of coins dropping into a metal tray, long the anthem of the Nevada casinos.

Along with the new machines, Barona is instituting new kinds of high-stakes card games and has raised limits on existing games such as blackjack and pai gow. Craps and roulette remain illegal in the state.

“We’re going to be able to attract people who would go to Las Vegas but have never come to an Indian casino before,” said Lee Skelley, assistant general manager of casino operations at Barona. “Anything you could do in Las Vegas, you’re going to be able to do here.”

This day has been a long time coming.

In 1991 San Diego police officers, sheriff’s deputies and district attorney investigators raided three Indian gambling halls in the county, including the Barona gambling hall, and seized several hundred slot machines. The incident led to years of bitterness between the tribes and local authorities--reflecting a battle waged statewide--over what kind of gambling could be offered.

Proposition 1A, and the compacts signed by 58 tribes with Gov. Gray Davis, allow the tribes for the first time to buy slot machines from Nevada companies and to play table games registered to Nevada companies, such as 3-Card Stud, Caribbean Stud and Shoot Out.

The proposition also allows casinos to act as the house in card games rather than just pooling the money from players at a table and charging each player a seat fee.

The result is that the per-hand limit for blackjack and pai gow at Barona, for example, was doubled late last month to $1,000. Special tables are being installed for high-rollers, where the limit will be $5,000.

Once installed, the new slots--with names like Wheel of Fortune, Triple Play Poker and Quartermania--will stretch the possibilities for wagering at both ends. The current wagering range is from 5 cents to $5; the new slot machines will allow bets from 1 cent to $100.

Barona officials estimate that it will take three weeks to get the new slots installed in an expanded pavilion with new carpeting and an upgraded food menu. Patrons--the casino averages 7,000 per day on a weekend--are ready.

“Everybody has been waiting for the new slots,” said Julie Muir, a retired bus driver from El Cajon. “The others are OK, but they’re too slow. Nobody likes to get slowed down when you’re having fun.”

With the current video slot machines, which Muir and her husband play about two days a week, patrons put in coins or paper money and, if they come up winners, receive vouchers to be redeemed at the cashier’s cage.

A patron who runs out of coins or bills needs to cash out the vouchers before returning to the action. A trip like that can interrupt the flow of the gambling experience.

Enter the new machines: vouchers in, vouchers out. No need to make trips to the cashier except at the beginning and end of the day’s gambling.

For those who like to hear the plink of coins, about 10% of machines will still pay off in silver. But Barona officials are confident the cashless payout machines will soon win over all but the most die-hard coin lovers.

“There are people who like coins, and people who only think they like coins,” said Skelley.