Posted on 11/22/2014 9:34:30 AM PST by anymouse
Flood of big bucks and tortured history spell turmoil for California's Indian casinos When it comes to controlling California's flashy Las Vegas-style casinos, the stakes are enormous for tribes who own the gambling operations that collectively generate billions of dollars a year to sustain Native Americans up and down the state.
With this backdrop, several tribes in the past two years have fallen into nasty, sometimes violent, power struggles pitting factions and families against one another.
The most recent case, involving the Picayune Rancheria of Chukchansi Indians near Yosemite National Park, climaxed in an armed raid on Oct. 9 by one faction that caused gamblers to flee, leaving their chips on the table.
The National Indian Gaming Commission, which regulates Indian casinos, and a federal judge shut down the Chukchansi Gold Resort and Casino, citing safety concerns. Charges have been filed against 15 men two tribal council members, the tribal police chief and a hired security team that included a former sheriff's deputy and onetime Marine, and a former Navy Seal.
The casino remains closed with estimated losses in the millions each week because rivals have yet to diffuse what U.S. District Judge J. Lawrence O'Neill of Fresno called an "explosive keg" of emotions.
"It's a classic struggle over money and tribal rights and control for what everybody recognizes is a very lucrative enterprise," said Denise Runge, a gambling industry researcher at Helena College University of Montana.
Congress passed the Indian Gaming Regulation Act in 1988, setting the stage for sovereign Native American governments to open full-blown casinos.
Indian casinos generated $28 billion last year from 449 casino operations in 28 states, according to the National Indian Gaming Commission. About 65 Indian casinos in California took in one-quarter of those earnings at nearly $7 billion.
(Excerpt) Read more at finance.yahoo.com ...
Used to be in California that only games of skill played against other players (parimutuel). That meant no slot machines, no blackjack — only poker in approved forms.
Then, when California introduced it’s lottery, the Indians sued for the right to their own lottery type system and they won.
The only thing is, various Indian Casino resorts in California have been caught cheating multiple times either with complicit management or complicit employees. Just take a look at the spotty record of Sycuan in Chula Vista. Back in the 90’s it was the players that banked the black jack games so it was always the players that got cheated. Never the house.
I don’t care what people do with their money-not my business-but I really have a problem making it okay for one ethnic group to operate a type of business at the exclusion of others-that does not seem very American to me-should I be allowed to operate a stand that sells homemade corn tortillas and tamales at my front gate while my WASP neighbor can’t do that?
All the Indian casinos I have seen in Oklahoma had full parking lots even on Sunday.
Not so here in SoCal. I live near Morongo Casino and that parking lot is packed. Holidays are very busy with long lines to have holiday dinner in the dining rooms. Food not so bad either.
If you see one casino with a nearly empty parking lot, then the other one a half mile away is REALLY busy.
If you budget your money, don't drink, and arrive with a plan, it can be a source of income.
I go to the casino with $50 twice a month and play blackjack. Sometimes I lose, but there are times when I win $250, $500. That's like working a part-time job.
Democrats are just clearing the path for illegal alien run gambling casinos. Smuggling drugs in from Mexico isn’t enough to support the population here so why not kick out the Indian casinos since the new pet for the Federal Gimmedat are illegals.
casinos are also free from law suits by “customers”...if you fall and break your neck, you can attempt to sue, but if the indian council votes not to participate in the legal process, then that’s it....it happened just like that here locally with a indian casino....
and the Indians do not...
which is what I like....
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.