A Bad Bet for California

With glittery Las Vegas-style resorts costing as much as $400 million popping up statewide, California’s gambling revenues have topped New Jersey’s, and the business is cutting into Reno’s profits. If casinos are allowed in major urban centers, more compulsive gamblers will have a chance to pour in more money that might be spent on the family’s rent or groceries.

Meanwhile, even Native American tribes without casinos are becoming wealthy because of a revenue-sharing program. And tribes’ generous campaign contributions have made them a major political force.

Tribal casinos also have become a legal nightmare. The tribes exert their sovereignty. State and local governments counter by pushing their jurisdiction to regulate public safety and environmental issues near the casinos. The tribes usually win. Now some are fighting the state Gambling Control Commission over interpretation of the compacts that limit the number of slot machines and set minimal environmental controls on casinos.

The situation may get worse next year when the 60 tribal compacts signed by Gov. Gray Davis come up for possible renegotiation. The tribes, which are likely to seek an increase in the 2,000-per-tribe limit on slot machines, have gone to court to challenge the state’s authority to set any limits on what were once called one-armed bandits but might now better be termed computerized cash-confiscators.

Efforts are underway to open casinos in urban areas such as Sacramento and the San Francisco Bay Area in spite of Davis’ pledge to have only a moderate increase in casino gambling and none in urban areas. Davis has at least tried to stop a proposed club in West Sacramento. The others may be beyond his control.

Casino gambling is nearing a pivotal point as tribes gear up for the renegotiations. With California suffering a staggering budget deficit, some lawmakers talk of the state bargaining for a bigger stake in casino winnings to help balance the budget. The trade-off almost certainly would be more slot machines and more casinos. That would no doubt tempt state finance officials scratching for every dollar, but it’s a bad bet for the state of California. Just remember how the lottery was going to save the public schools.

The voters have decreed that sovereign tribes should be allowed to run casinos under restrained state control. They did not even hint that they wanted California to become an eager partner in an industry that preys on human weakness.