Posted on 11/08/2004 9:17:03 PM PST by NormsRevenge
RIVERSIDE, Calif. - Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's office warned two Riverside County Indian tribes that they were violating state gambling compacts by operating games that look and play like slot machines.
Peter Siggins, the governor's legal affairs secretary, wrote in Nov. 4 letters to the Morongo and Pechanga bands that their video lottery terminals were "virtually indistinguishable from slot machines" and unauthorized under the gambling deals.
Even if they were permitted, he argued, the number currently in use would increase the tribes' total gaming devices beyond the legal maximum. He accused the Morongo tribe of operating at least 225 of the lottery machines and planning to put an additional 1,800 into service, and Pechanga of having 1,671 of the games.
Both tribes already operate 2,000 "gaming devices" permitted by gambling compacts.
Devices are subject to state fees up to 13 percent of gross revenue. Schwarzenegger has agreed to give some tribes unlimited slots, but he raised the state's cut to as much as 25 percent of gross revenues on some machines.
Calls to the Morongo and Pechanga bands, which operate two of the state's biggest and most successful casinos, were not immediately returned Monday night.
The administration asked the tribes to remove the machines and ship them back to the manufacturer.
If the tribes don't comply within 60 days, "the state reserves the right to take appropriate action under the terms of the compact," Siggins wrote.
Morongo was a major financial backer of Proposition 70, which would have removed the 2,000-per-tribe cap on slot machines and allowed tribes to operate Las Vegas-style games such as roulette and craps that are currently banned in California.
In return, casino-owning tribes would have paid the state 8.84 percent of their net income from slot machines and table games.
The measure was soundly defeated, pulling about 24 percent of the vote.
When Torie assumes absolute power, gambling will be shut down in this country, except in private homes. It will be a clean sweep. The cancer will be exorcised everywhere, without exception. It is an industry that preys on the dysfunctional addiction of the weak and stupid, and the poor. It is disgusting. It shocks my conscience.
It may create jobs but the anciliary costs are not worth the hassle and cost to society as a whole.
Unfortunately, over 2/3's or more of the nation's states have some form of legalized gambling, if I recall correctly.
Indian Casinos Hit Jackpot With the Elderly -- It's barely noon, and 78-year-old Rose Kario is already $300 in the hole. With each puff of her cigarette and each losing spin, she grows more agitated. "Come on, sweetie pie," she whispers to a clanging slot machine she has been feeding for more than an hour at Casino Pauma in northern San Diego County. "Come to Mama." Dave McKibben in the Los Angeles Times -- 11/8/04
..... It is an industry that preys on the dysfunctional addiction of the weak and stupid, and the poor. It is disgusting. It shocks my conscience.....
I just got back from 11 days in Vegas .... a truly great town! It was filled with folks having FUN and enjoying themselves and spending their money as they see fit. IMO, you and your sensitive conscience have no right whatsoever to limit other folks freedom to gamble, drink or do whatever they please with their own lives and money.
Pity the taxpayers have to pick up the pieces of the shattered lives of the addicts, which are legion. The casinos need to be taxed more to pay for it all. Tax them, and then tax them some more.
Your puritannical approach to restricting folks basic freedoms to spend their money as they see fit is quite scary.
Your proposal to outlaw gambling would limit folks right use their money as they see fit. Although you are surely correct that those folks who gamble foolishly sometimes then become a burden on government by requiring welfare etc, I do not see that preempting the rights of the vast majority who do not. I also believe that the jobs and salary and taxes generated by casinos probably far exceeds the costs ....
Even if they didn't the loss of freedoms is much too high.
The house odds are stacked against ya, yaknow. ;-)
On occasion, we may make a sojourn to the voluntary donation zone.
I usually just sit and watch the action, or have a couple of 10 dollar beers playing comped video poker. My wife is a slot and bingo person.
Unfortunately, not everyone has the restraint gene, and in some cases, the loss of freedom or their last dime is not realized until it is too late. But, to each their own.
....ugly.... parasitic industry..... They need to be taxed, and taxed heavily, and then taxed some more,..... to pay for the societal costs they impose ..... which are quite horrific and substantial.... It is called internalizing the negative external costs ... are imposed by this cancer, .... in economic parlance.....all of those negative externality costs internalized -
Those are all hot button phrases and provocative third rail words. However, you do not address the loss of freedom you advocate. Perhaps you could use some of your "economic parlance" and internalise the negative externality " (what the hell does that mean .... it sounds like some Kerry nuance on LSD). I also doubt you can quantify the value of the lose of freedom vs your assumed net loss to society?
How can you sleep at night knowing that some folks are out there having some fun with their hard earned dollars?
Red man speak with forked tongue.
..... have a couple of 10 dollar beers playing comped video poker.....
Just love those comp'd beers ....and buffets and nekked showgirls !!!!
.....But, to each their own.....
As long as someone else's own doesn't stop mine , you just said it all in a very few words.
Regards
an ironic twist indeed.
Maybe they can substitute pachinko machines instead. altho there wouldn't be as much money in it for the Indians and the state.
Sorry, pachinko machines are an ethnic insult to Asian peoples (even though they invented 'em). They must be renamed, but then the renaming is an insult (because they invented 'em).
Darn, back where we started.
Yup, altho I never had much of a yen for them or slots anyway. ;-)
Methinks this is a battle between Multimedia Games, Inc. (makers of the lottery machines) and International Game Technology, Inc. (and Sodak subsidiary, primary slot supplier to California).
Doesn't surprise me that Arnold is on the side of IGT.
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