Location is the name of the casino game

Patrick Hoge

Monday, March 13, 2000 | 11:17 a.m.

SACRAMENTO -- When it comes to getting rich off Nevada-style gambling, one factor has been decisive for California's Indian casinos: location, location, location.

Shoved onto largely barren and remote land where the potential for economic development was slight, those among the state's 105 federally recognized tribes with land close to freeways and urban areas have largely become rich.

Tribes at the end of winding two-lane roads, meanwhile, typically remain as poor as ever. Two tribes on the eastern side of the Sierra Nevada closed their casinos for lack of business.

Even with voters' approval last week of Proposition 1A, industry experts say that pattern will generally continue, with the biggest expansion of gambling likely to be on tribal lands where successful casinos already exist.

"I think you're going to see major expansions on the handful of tribal government lands that are geographically located to support casinos," said Josh Pane, a lobbyist for several tribes. In addition to bigger casinos, those tribes will add hotels, golf courses, shopping and other businesses, he said.

But opponents of expanded Indian gambling warn that tribes will find ways to move into urban areas, and will build casinos like those lining the Las Vegas strip.

"The floodgates have opened," said Cheryl Schmit, co-director of a Penryn-based citizens group called Stand Up For California. "The next step that I see is going to be off-reservation casinos in metropolitan areas."

Growth of Indian gambling will undoubtedly be impressive, likely making California the largest Indian gambling state in the nation, according to numerous projections. A Wall Street firm has predicted that Indian casino revenue would rise from $1.4 billion to $4.7 billion a year by 2004.

At least 31 tribes are seriously considering opening casinos, according to a survey by the Sacramento Bee.

Tribes, however, can put casinos only on land that is already owned for them "in trust" by the U.S. government, and buying new land for a casino under current federal rules is very difficult.

Those familiar with the federal process for buying Indian reservation land -- particularly for casinos -- say dire predictions like Schmit's are absurd.

"It's going to be extremely difficult," said Rex Hackler, director of communications for the Bureau of Indian Affairs in Washington, D.C. Since 1988, Heckler said, the secretary of the interior has approved only three purchases of land for Indian casinos, none in California.

"Opponents would like to say the tribes can just walk in and write a check and open a casino," Heckler said, "and that's ridiculous, and they know it's ridiculous, but it's one of the charges that gets tossed around wildly during a political campaign."

In addition to requiring that acquisitions for casinos will be in the best interest of a tribe and will not harm surrounding communities, federal law gives governors veto power, Hackler said. The process is now being rewritten to make it even harder to put land into trust far from existing reservations, he said.

Gov. Gray Davis has said he does not want to see a massive expansion of gambling.

In signing gambling compacts last year with almost 60 tribes, Davis tried to address the disparity in tribal fortunes, by forcing gambling tribes to pay up to $1.1 million a year to nongambling tribes.

A look at the plans of some tribes underscores the importance of having well-located reservations.

The Rincon and Pala reservations in San Diego County announced $100 million and $90 million deals, respectively, with Harrah's and Anchor Gaming of Nevada. The two tribes are sandwiched between the enormously profitable Pechanga and Barona casinos off Highway 395 in San Diego County.

The Fort Mojave tribe on Interstate 10 is planning a casino at Needles. The tribe already has casinos in Arizona and Nevada, where its reservation spreads.

The Chemehuevi Indian Tribe is planning a casino on its 36 miles of land lining Lake Havasu, a reservoir on the Colorado River near the Arizona border. The site is between Interstates 10 and 40.

"We have prime property right on the lake," said tribal Chairman David Chavez, 54. "We really are unique."