State Seeking to Stop 2 Tribes From Installing Machines Similar to Slots

The Schwarzenegger administration is moving to block two Southern California Indian tribes with major casinos from installing devices that mimic slot machines.

Setting up a possible legal fight, Schwarzenegger’s legal affairs secretary, Peter Siggins, sent letters to the Pechanga Band of Luiseno Indians near Temecula and the Morongo Band of Mission Indians near Palm Springs stating that the tribes were trying to skirt compacts negotiated by Gov. Gray Davis in 1999.

The tribes each operate 2,000 Nevada-style slot machines at their casinos, the maximum permitted under the Davis agreements. But both tribes have added several hundred devices, contending that they are akin to lotteries and are legal under state law.

But Siggins said state inspectors had determined that the so-called video lottery terminals were “virtually indistinguishable from slot machines next to which they have often been placed” and that the machines constituted “gaming that is not authorized” under the accords.

“These [video lottery terminals] are the same size as slot machines, have slot-style glass faceplates with slot machine-style pay tables and slot machine configurations,” the letters said.

Pechanga has 271 of the devices, and Morongo has 225 at a casino and at a nearby gas station, Siggins wrote. Morongo plans to install another 1,800 at a casino set to open Nov. 15.

“I’m not aware that Morongo is doing anything that violates the law or its compact,” tribal attorney George Forman said Monday. “These are terminals with which people can play a lottery. The compact specifically allows lottery as distinct from gaming devices.”

Pechanga’s attorney could not be reached Monday.

Siggins’ letters cite a provision in the Davis compacts that requires that the tribes “meet and confer” with the state to resolve disputes, and possibly go to arbitration.

But the letters also call use of the devices a “material breach” of the compacts, and cite another provision suggesting that the state could cancel the compacts.

That could leave the affected tribes unable to legally operate slot machines and other Nevada-style games.

Attorney Howard Dickstein, who represents several tribes that have casinos but do not use the “video lottery” devices, called the tribes’ use of the lottery machines “risky.”

“If the tribes win, then the [California State] Lottery could have lottery machines,” Dickstein said, and the tribes would face stiffer competition. “If you win legally, you’ve shot yourself in the brain.”