SEARCH NEWS:

 

California Tribe Agrees to Halt Expansion

CALIFORNIA – As reported by the Daily California: "Plans to expand an East Bay card room located less than 10 miles from UC Berkeley halted last week when the Lytton Band of Pomo Indians agreed not to install 2,500 slot machines at Casino San Pablo, after facing heat from state legislators.

"The tribe's plans to install slot machines and expand from 70,000 to 600,000 square feet will be abandoned. Instead, the tribe will install fewer than 1,000 gaming machines, including electronic bingo, for which they will not need state approval.

"The machines will be housed in the existing card room, which will undergo some renovation but not change structurally, said tribal spokesperson Nick DeLuca. The card room will remain a strictly gaming facility, with no hotels or arcades, as were proposed in the tribe's original compact with Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.

"…Under the compact, the tribe offered $25 million to pay for improvements along Interstate 80 leading to the casino, and would have given 25 percent of the casino's profits to the state and local governments. Without slot machines, the state has no regulatory power over the facility and the tribe can avoid sharing revenue…"

< Gaming News