California's addiction to Indian casinos
Published 5:57 pm, Monday, November 4, 2013
Rohnert Park's new casino takes Indian gaming to a new level. Photo: Courtesy Of Graton Resort & Casi
In just over a decade, Indian casinos have shot from backcountry slot machine emporiums to enormous gambling meccas, an escalation completely at odds with original promises. The latest proof of this failed pledge is an $800 million operation in Rohnert Park due to open Tuesday.
The Graton Resort & Casino will be a major economic force in Sonoma County, employing some 2,000 employees and promising $20 million in annual local payments. Instead of smoke-filled gambling halls, it will offer high-end restaurants, ornate chandeliers and skylights in a main building surrounded by nearly 6,000 parking slots.
But the huge operation is a reminder of how far things have strayed from the promises made to California voters in 2000. Back then, the arguments on behalf of tribal gambling were about economic uplift and self-determination. A state ballot measure argued that impoverished tribes living in remote corners of California had few if any alternatives for economic development.
Now gambling is Vegas-scale, and casino tribes are vying against each other for prime spots. The Rohnert Park casino will jump in front of another operation 30 miles to the north in Geyserville, and that worried tribe has bought land in Petaluma for a possible operation that will be closer to Bay Area gamblers.
One tribe's win is another's loss. The Geyserville casino, River Rock, expects to take a 30 percent hit on its revenues because Bay Area gamblers will have a shorter trip to Graton. Other major casinos - Cache Creek in Yolo County and Thunder Valley in Placer County - are also braced for a drop-off.
California taxpayers have a stake too. Sold on an ever-increasing slice of revenues, a string of state governors have approved more than 60 casinos. Gov. Jerry Brown, who approved the Graton operation, signed two other casino deals in the Central Valley sought by tribes who wanted more lucrative spots. These new locations are expected to take business away from existing tribal casinos.
For now, the Graton operation will be king. It will have 3,000 slots and 144 gaming tables, far more than any other Northern California casino. The 1,300 members of the Federated Indians of the Graton Rancheria, scattered across the region, stand to earn a healthy return after decades of poverty and isolation. Rohnert Park and Sonoma County will receive millions for traffic impacts, schools and community projects.
Yet it's still an untenable bargain. Gambling addiction and its toll on families is one measure. So is state and local governments' ever-growing dependence on revenue from gamblers' losses; the temptation to approve bigger and glitzier casinos ever closer to population centers is proving irresistible.
Mega-casinos such as the new one in Rohnert Park bear no relation to the humble vision sold to state voters in 2000.
http://www.sfgate.com/opinion/editorials/article/California-s-addiction-to-Indian-casinos-4954953.php
The Graton Resort & Casino will be a major economic force in Sonoma County, employing some 2,000 employees and promising $20 million in annual local payments. Instead of smoke-filled gambling halls, it will offer high-end restaurants, ornate chandeliers and skylights in a main building surrounded by nearly 6,000 parking slots.
But the huge operation is a reminder of how far things have strayed from the promises made to California voters in 2000. Back then, the arguments on behalf of tribal gambling were about economic uplift and self-determination. A state ballot measure argued that impoverished tribes living in remote corners of California had few if any alternatives for economic development.
Now gambling is Vegas-scale, and casino tribes are vying against each other for prime spots. The Rohnert Park casino will jump in front of another operation 30 miles to the north in Geyserville, and that worried tribe has bought land in Petaluma for a possible operation that will be closer to Bay Area gamblers.
One tribe's win is another's loss. The Geyserville casino, River Rock, expects to take a 30 percent hit on its revenues because Bay Area gamblers will have a shorter trip to Graton. Other major casinos - Cache Creek in Yolo County and Thunder Valley in Placer County - are also braced for a drop-off.
California taxpayers have a stake too. Sold on an ever-increasing slice of revenues, a string of state governors have approved more than 60 casinos. Gov. Jerry Brown, who approved the Graton operation, signed two other casino deals in the Central Valley sought by tribes who wanted more lucrative spots. These new locations are expected to take business away from existing tribal casinos.
For now, the Graton operation will be king. It will have 3,000 slots and 144 gaming tables, far more than any other Northern California casino. The 1,300 members of the Federated Indians of the Graton Rancheria, scattered across the region, stand to earn a healthy return after decades of poverty and isolation. Rohnert Park and Sonoma County will receive millions for traffic impacts, schools and community projects.
Yet it's still an untenable bargain. Gambling addiction and its toll on families is one measure. So is state and local governments' ever-growing dependence on revenue from gamblers' losses; the temptation to approve bigger and glitzier casinos ever closer to population centers is proving irresistible.
Mega-casinos such as the new one in Rohnert Park bear no relation to the humble vision sold to state voters in 2000.
http://www.sfgate.com/opinion/editorials/article/California-s-addiction-to-Indian-casinos-4954953.php
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