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Critic Troubled by California's Casino Growth

"In the three years since Indian tribes were given permission to offer slot machines and Nevada-style card games, the state has raced past New Jersey and is bearing down on Nevada as the nation's biggest gambling empire.

"Indian casinos make most of the money and get most of the attention, but there's more. Davis also signed legislation that legalized online betting for horse racing and sanctioned a class of legally borderline games that drove a dramatic expansion of card rooms and generate most of their profits.

"`It's the largest gambling expansion in the country,' said Tom Tucker of the California Council on Problem Gambling.

"…Yet, the rapid conversion to a full-service gambling powerhouse has some wondering where it is taking a state that has historically looked askance at games of chance.

"…Most troubling is the effect it may be having on children, said Steve Peace, the former senator from El Cajon who recently became the governor's new finance director.

"…Calls to a gambling help line are pouring in at the rate of 1,000 a month, Tucker said. Local government officials and even some in law enforcement also have sounded alarms.

"…And the industry doesn't appear to be close to peaking.

"…The Davis compacts are filled with ambiguities, contradictions and apparent oversights. Among the most glaring is an environmental section that gives neither the state nor local governments much, if any, ability to force tribes to offset the damage casinos and related projects cause to surrounding communities.

"…Davis said his administration will raise those issues among others when the compacts are renegotiated later this year…"

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