Posted on 08/17/2004 6:24:23 AM PDT by NormsRevenge
SACRAMENTO — Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is preparing to sign new gambling agreements with several Indian tribes, including one that could spawn California's first major urban casino — something the governor has said he opposed.
The Bay Area facility, a short drive from Oakland and San Francisco, could be one of the world's largest gambling halls, as large as five Costcos, with up to 5,000 slot machines, multiple sources said Monday.
The agreement would require that once the 259-member Lytton Band of Pomo Indians opened the facility, now the site of a card club called Casino San Pablo, it would pay up to 25% of its gambling profits to the state. That would be a far larger percentage than what five other tribes agreed to pay in pacts they signed with Schwarzenegger in June and would equal payments by tribes that operate the nation's largest casino in Connecticut.
If the casino were to earn $500 million a year, the state could receive $125 million. The city of San Pablo, a hardscrabble town of 32,000 people that had a $2-million budget shortfall this year, and Contra Costa County would get additional millions.
Administration officials declined to comment on the agreement. But other sources said the governor was attempting to complete deals with Lytton and a handful of other tribes in time for lawmakers to approve them before the scheduled conclusion of the legislative session next week. Approval is expected.
(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
The tribes are running radio ads to defeat prop 66 (or is it 68?), the inititative that would let card rooms and race tracks into the casino business. In it, they decry the increased traffic, crime, and proximity to schools from "urban" (i.e. non-reservation) casinos. Aparently all those evils don't happen if the urban casino is run by an Indian tribe.
FRom the Mercury News.. excerpt follows..
sin taxes.. the old fashioned way out of a budget crisis .. gambling, dope, alcohol,
Schwarzenegger set to approve state's largest Indian casino
SACRAMENTO (AP) - Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is close to signing an agreement with a Northern California Indian tribe that could create one of the world's largest casinos in the heart of the San Francisco Bay Area, two newspapers reported Tuesday.
The compact is expected to be signed Thursday between the Lytton Band of Pomo Indians and the state allowing the tribe to build what could be one of the world's largest casinos on a 9-acre site in San Pablo, located across the Bay from San Francisco and just 15 minutes north of Oakland.
Sources speaking on condition of anonymity told the Los Angeles Times and the Sacramento Bee that in exchange for state permission, the tribe would pay up to 25 percent of its gambling profits to the state -- a far larger share than the amount five other tribes agreed to give up in agreements Schwarzenegger negotiated in June.
Expectations are that if the 259-member tribe opens as many as 5,000 slot machines, it could generate more than $125 million a year for the state.
The largest casino in Las Vegas, the MGM Grand, has about 3,200 machines. The largest casino in the world, Foxwoods, in Connecticut, has 6,800 machines.
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