Tribe Agrees to Change Its Machines

The Schwarzenegger administration and an Indian tribe that owns one of Southern California’s largest casinos agreed Monday to defuse a fight over devices that mimic slot machines.

The accord averts a court battle, at least for now, and clears the way for new compact negotiations between the state and the Morongo Band of Mission Indians.

The tribe agreed to change the configuration of about 2,000 video lottery terminals in a manner that the state says will make them legal.

The state had accused the tribe of violating its current compact by installing the devices though it already had its legal quota of slot machines in its casino near Palm Springs.

Officials from Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s administration sent letters to the Morongo Indians and another tribe in November calling the devices “virtually indistinguishable” from slot machines.

Officials also threatened to file a lawsuit that could have jeopardized the tribes’ right to continue operating their casinos.

The tribes maintained that the devices were not slot machines, and therefore were not subject to the limits of the compact.

The Morongo tribe’s machines will now become bingo-style games, deemed legal by the National Indian Gaming Commission, a federal agency.

The other tribe, the Pechanga Band of Luiseno Indians, faces a Saturday deadline to resolve its dispute with the state over machines in its casino outside Temecula.

The agreement released Monday is expected to give the state and the Morongo Indians time to craft a new gambling accord.

“To the extent this dispute was an obstacle to the discussion [over a new compact], then the resolution of this dispute should remove that obstacle,” said George Forman, the Morongo tribe’s attorney.

Forman described the process leading to the nine-page agreement as “respectful government-to-government negotiations on a very technical issue.”

Schwarzenegger spokesman Vince Sollitto said a copy of the Morongo agreement was sent to the Pechanga tribe, and “we’re awaiting their action” by Saturday.

Pechanga representatives did not return phone calls from The Times on Monday.

Sollitto said the administration is “pleased” with the Morongo agreement and “is in a position to renew its offer” to reopen compact talks.

If those talks were to reach an impasse, the Morongo tribe could sue in an effort to convince a court that the lottery-type devices are legal in California.

As part of the deal, the Schwarzenegger administration generally agreed to abide by the federal commission’s determination that the bingo-type games are permissible, though the state retained the right to challenge the commission’s findings on specific makes of machines.

Some experts nonetheless said the governor had made a significant concession, given that the state has its own laws and regulatory system governing gambling.

“That is a big step,” said attorney Rob Rosette, whose firm represents several tribes with casinos and has represented manufacturers of the devices.

Rosette said bingo-type games declared legal by the federal agency generally are “just as fun to play as [slot machines].... They look like a slot machine, except there is a little bingo card.”

Gamblers are “playing bingo, but it gives them the impression they’re playing ... [slot] machines,” he said.

Under compacts struck by then-Gov. Gray Davis in 1999, tribes can operate 2,000 Las Vegas-style slot machines, the most profitable game in any casino.

Last year, Schwarzenegger signed new or amended compacts with nine tribes, including some that allow unlimited slot machine expansion as long as tribes make what could be hefty payments to the state.