Casino Regulation

* Re “Cloud of Secrecy Over Casinos,” editorial, Oct. 1: Your concerns over the regulation of the Indian casinos are right on. The tribes learned early on that you don’t answer questions or abide by the law, because enough money has been put in the right places. This now is a sad state of affairs, when you realize that we had a chance to put in a real, tough gambling commission that would have raised the level of the compacts initiated by the governor.

I’d like to see just how much money the tribes have given in campaign donations to those elected state officers, such as the governor and the attorney general, who have a regulatory and law enforcement responsibility in the area of gambling. I don’t know how these people can take money from those they regulate without raising the flag of concern. The Times should dig into this twisted mess.

JACK W. MILLER

Whittier

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Your editorial whines about Indian reservation slots. Seems to me that any state, such as California, that robs the old, the ignorant and the possessed with its own kind of state-sponsored fraud called a lottery has little room to complain. The image of this country evolving is that of Pottersville in the James Stewart classic, “It’s a Wonderful Life.”

For the state, the wages of sin have certainly been raised.

MELVIN D. THOMAS

Laguna Hills