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California Tribes Seek to Open Casino

CALIFORNIA – As reported by the Santa Rose Press Democrat: "Six North Coast tribes are trying to stretch the conventional boundaries for Indian gaming by seeking permission to open casinos in the Bay Area and in other locations outside their current tribal lands.

"The tribes are among 23 statewide engaged in a movement critics call 'reservation shopping,' pushing to buy land and to establish gaming halls as much as 140 miles from their reservations.

"…Among the North Coast tribes seeking off-reservation casinos are the Lytton Band of Pomo Indians, which wants to convert a cardroom in the East Bay city of San Pablo into a Nevada-style gambling hall, and the Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria, which was re-established as a tribe in 2000, is landless, and has proposed a casino at the western edge of Rohnert Park.

"In addition, the Ukiah-based Guidiville Band of Pomo Indians and Scotts Valley Band of Pomo Indians, based in Kelseyville, have tried and failed to secure land in Solano and Contra Costa counties, and the Upper Lake Band of Pomo Indians lost a legal bid for a casino in West Sacramento.

"…Norm Ronneberg Jr., a San Francisco attorney for the Upper Lake tribe, said there is no legal requirement nor moral justification to narrowly define a tribe's rightful territory.

"…Despite the Indians' arguments, the issue has grabbed the attention of leaders in Washington. House Speaker Dennis Hastert of Illinois and other Republican lawmakers are concerned about tribes seeking lucrative casino markets far from traditional native lands…"

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