Wednesday, Sep. 05, 2012

Remote Yuba County site presents challenges for casino proponents

Wednesday, Sep. 05, 2012
By Dale Kasler
The Sacramento Bee

A new Indian casino in Yuba County, approved last week by Gov. Jerry Brown, could shake up Northern California's increasingly crowded casino landscape.

There's no guarantee it will rake in riches, however.

Even if the Enterprise Rancheria can overcome potential legal and political hurdles and get the facility opened, the tribe could find it tough competing against the region's dominant casino, Thunder Valley near Lincoln.

A new Indian casino in Yuba County was approved last week by Gov. Jerry Brown. The new casino backers hope to draw crowds like this."

The proposed casino would be located near the 12-year-old Sleep Train Amphitheatre, which has struggled mightily to draw concert crowds from the Sacramento area.

Bill Eadington, a gambling industry expert at the University of Nevada, Reno, said a casino in that spot "is going to draw more than the amphitheater" and would be a "decent revenue generator." But he said a relatively remote site isn't ideal for a casino, particularly one that would have to draw customers away from Thunder Valley.

"Location is such a critical factor," he said.

To get to the new venue south of Marysville, many patrons would have to drive within a mile or so of Thunder Valley on Highway 65.

Ken Adams, a gambling consultant in Reno, said the struggles of Red Hawk Casino in Shingle Springs show that it can be extremely risky to build a casino in a location that's considered too far removed from a metro population.

Red Hawk has performed well below expectations and is generating just minimal profit for its owner, the Shingle Springs Band of Miwok Indians.

Another issue is the sheer number of competitors. From Cache Creek to Jackson Rancheria, greater Sacramento already has four major casinos. A tribe is planning an $850 million casino near Rohnert Park, which could draw Bay Area patrons who normally visit the Sacramento area venues.

"It's getting more and more crowded," Eadington said. "We're seeing increasing competition among the tribes."

The Yuba County project got a major approval Friday. Brown signed a compact with the tribe, giving it the right to build a casino on the Yuba County site with up to 2,000 slot machines. He signed a similar compact with the North Fork Rancheria near Fresno.

The decision was controversial because both casinos would be miles from the tribes' land. The Yuba County location is 35 miles from the Enterprise tribal office in Oroville, although it does have historic connections to the tribe. The site was approved by the federal Bureau of Indian Affairs.

Opponents vowed to fight the proposal in the Legislature, which must ratify the compacts.

In the Legislature, "the tribes have a voice," said Thunder Valley spokesman Doug Elmets. "The compact will run into a buzz saw."

Thunder Valley and other opponents say Brown's decision would open the floodgates for tribal casinos in the heart of urban areas.

If the Legislature doesn't block the Yuba casino, Elmets predicted lawsuits "that will tie this up for years." He refused to speculate on what business impact the casino would have on Thunder Valley.

The Enterprise tribe says on its website the casino would pump $281 million a year into the area economy. Yuba County Supervisor Mary Jane Griego told the Marysville Appeal-Democrat that the casino would be a huge job generator.

"This is a project like any large corporation coming here," she said last week.

The project isn't universally popular around Yuba County, however. County voters rejected the project in a nonbinding 2005 vote.

The casino would be built on a 40-acre parcel owned by Gerald Forsythe, a developer and auto-racing tycoon from Illinois who once tried to build a racetrack there.

Read more here: http://www.modbee.com/2012/09/05/2358264/remote-yuba-county-site-presents.html#storylink=cpy

Allowing casinos is just plain wrong

Tuesday, Sep. 04, 2012

Published Tue, Sep 04, 2012 12:40 AMModified Tue, Sep 04, 2012 12:45 AOur View: Allowing casinos is just plain wrong
Merced-SunStar

Gov. Jerry Brown waited until Friday's deadline to announce his support for two controversial off-reservation casinos that are likely to usher in a troubling new Indian gambling boom in California.
It's unfortunate that Brown blessed these two bad deals initially approved by the Obama administration's Interior Department.

The first allows the North Fork Rancheria of Mono Indians to build a casino along Highway 99 in Madera County, 40 miles from the existing reservation near Yosemite.  The second allows the Enterprise Rancheria of the Estom Yumeka Maidu Tribe to build its casino near Oroville, 50 miles from its historic tribal lands. The governor approved that casino even though residents of Yuba County signaled decisively in a 2005 advisory vote that they did not want it.
Both casinos were opposed by established gambling tribes, who argue they will not generate new revenues but take profits from existing casinos. The most troubling aspect of Brown's decision is that it adds pressure to approve off-reservation casinos for other tribes.

When voters approved Proposition 1A a dozen years ago, they were promised gambling would be contained on existing Indian lands and that the expansion authorized by the initiative would be modest.

That's turned out to be a lie.

Today, California has more than 60 Indian casinos, some of them quite massive. Gambling tribes rake in close to $7 billion annually, more profits than tribes in any other state in the nation.

Some formerly impoverished tribes -- some with fewer than 10 members -- have become wealthy as a result, but most Indians in California remain mired in poverty. The gambling boom has led to rifts within tribes, with some members seeking to disenroll other tribal members.

In the news release announcing his decision, Brown predicted the casinos would bring hundreds of jobs to depressed areas of the state. In the current economic environment, the impulse to approve any business venture that promises jobs is understandable. But the price the state pays in the expansion of gambling makes these ventures precarious. Whether Indian casinos or the state lottery, gambling preys on those least able to afford it. Many economists argue that gambling just moves money from existing enterprises.

Moreover, tribal sovereignty places casinos outside the normal rules that govern non-Indian businesses. Local governments lose their land use planning authority. Indian tribal enterprises don't pay taxes like the local bookstore or movie house. They are not subject to the same zoning restrictions or environmental regulations.

The governor has negotiated compacts with both tribal governments that he says will protect patrons and the environment and require programs to mitigate negative impacts and address gambling addiction.
 There's reason to be skeptical. Recent history has shown that even when revenue sharing deals are cut with Indian tribes, they can and have been invalidated by the courts. Beyond all that, is gambling really the best way to grow California's economy? http://www.mercedsunstar.com/2012/09/04/2514117/our-view-allowing-casinos-is-just.html  

Read more here: http://www.mercedsunstar.com/2012/09/04/2514117/our-view-allowing-casinos-is-just.html#storylink=cpy

Read more here: http://www.mercedsunstar.com/2012/09/04/2514117/our-view-allowing-casinos-is-just.html#storylink=cpy

California's Broken Promises

Editorial: Brown places a poor bet on two new tribal casinos

By the Editorial Board

By the Editorial Board

Last modified: 2012-09-01T03:36:53Z

Published: Sunday, Sep. 2, 2012

Copyright 2012 . All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Gov. Jerry Brown waited until Friday's deadline to announce his support for two controversial off-reservation casinos that are likely to usher in a troubling new Indian gambling boom in California.

It's unfortunate that Brown blessed these two bad deals initially approved by the Obama administration's Interior Department. The first allows the North Fork Rancheria of Mono Indians to build a casino along Highway 99 in Madera County, 40 miles from their existing reservation near Yosemite. The second allows the Enterprise Rancheria of the Estom Yumeka Maidu Tribe to build its casino near Oroville, 50 miles from its historic tribal lands. The governor approved that casino even though residents of Yuba County signaled in a 2005 advisory vote that they did not want it.

Both casinos were opposed by established gambling tribes, who argue they will not generate new revenue but take profits from existing casinos. The most troubling aspect of Brown's decision is that it adds pressure to approve off- reservation casinos for other tribes.

When voters approved Proposition 1A a dozen years ago, they were promised gambling would be contained on existing Indian lands and that the expansion authorized by the initiative would be modest.

That's turned out to be a lie. Today, California has more than 60 Indian casinos, some of them quite massive. Gambling tribes rake in close to $7 billion annually, more gamblng revenue than in any other state in the nation.

Some formerly impoverished tribes have become wealthy as a result, but most Indians in California remain mired in poverty. The gambling boom has also led to rifts within tribes, with some members seeking to disenroll other tribal members.

In the press release announcing his decision, Brown predicted the casinos would bring hundreds of jobs to depressed areas of the state. In the current economic environment, the impulse to approve any business venture that promises jobs is understandable. But the price the state pays in the expansion of gambling makes these ventures precarious. Whether Indian casinos or the state lottery, gambling preys on those least able to afford it. Many economists argue that gambling just moves money from existing enterprises.

Moreover, tribal sovereignty places casinos outside the normal rules that govern non-Indian businesses. Local governments lose their land use planning authority. Indian tribal enterprises don't pay taxes like the local bookstore or movie house. They are not subject to the same zoning restrictions or environmental regulations.


 The governor has negotiated compacts with both tribal governments that he says will protect patrons and the environment and fund programs to mitigate negative impacts and address gambling addiction.  

There's reason to be skeptical. Recent history has shown that even when revenue sharing deals are cut with Indian tribes, they can and have been invalidated by the courts. Beyond all that, is gambling really the best way to grow California's economy?

http://www.sacbee.com/2012/09/02/4777254/brown-places-a-poor-bet-on-two.html

http://www.sacbee.com/2012/09/02/4777254/brown-places-a-poor-bet-on-two.html

 

California's Fiscal Insanity

Widespread Tribal Casinos have contributed to California's economic problems, but that won't stop Governor Brown! Sad!

Jerry Brown authorizes California's first off-reservation tribal casinos

August 31, 2012

 

Gov. Jerry Brown approved a plan for two tribes to open casinos away from their ancestral lands, a move that he said would create jobs and help local communities. But critics say the plan could lead to a massive expansion of gambling in California.

In a statement Friday, Brown announced his administration agreed with an earlier ruling from the federal Department of the Interior granting the right of two Northern California tribes -- the North Fork Rancheria Band of Mono Indians to open a casino in Madera County and the Estom Yumeka Maidu Tribe of the Enterprise Rancheria near Yuba City -- to each open 2,000-slot-machine casinos near state highways.

Critics of the plans said Brown had opened the door to a massive expansion of tribal casinos that could lead to new game rooms being opened in or near urban areas across the state.

“These decisions change the face of tribal gaming as we know it in California,” said David Quintana, political director of the California Tribal Business Alliance, which represents a number of casino-owning tribes. “They will create a new ‘gold rush’ as investors scramble to move tribes to the most profitable markets with many financially-strapped municipalities that will welcome them with open arms. If history taught us anything, it's that gold rushes never benefit California's tribes.”

Brown refuted those charges in a letter to Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, noting that the planned casinos comport with local zoning laws and were warranted because of circumstances unique to these two tribes. “I expect there will be few requests from other tribes that will present the same kind of exceptional circumstances to support a similar expansion of tribal gaming land,” the governor wrote.

The compacts authorizing the new casinos are still subject to legislative ratification when lawmakers convene after the November elections.


http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/california-politics/2012/08/jerry-brown-authorizes-californias-first-off-reservation-tribal-casinos-1.html

2,000-slot-machine casino OK’d for Yuba County

Gov. Brown concurs on compact with tribe

Read more: http://www.kcra.com/news/2-000-slot-machine-casino-OK-d-for-Yuba-County/-/11797728/16447690/-/148orcbz/-/index.html#ixzz25ErOKqLM

August 31, 2012

Gov. Jerry Brown approves two off-reservation casinos

Gov. Jerry Brown has given approval for two Indian tribes in remote parts of California to build casinos along freeways many miles from their land, setting the stage for what critics say could become an explosion in off-reservation gambling.

Brown's decision allows the Enterprise Rancheria near Marysville and the North Fork Rancheria near Fresno to move ahead with plans to have the federal government take land into trust on which the tribes will build casinos, each with 2,000 slot machines.

In a letter announcing his decision to Kenneth L. Salazar, U.S. Secretary of the Interior, Brown said approval of the two casinos is unlikely to allow many other tribes to expand their gambling operations in the same way.

"I expect there will be few requests from other tribes that will present the same kind of exceptional circumstances to support a similar expansion of tribal gaming land," Brown wrote.

The Enterprise casino is planned near Highway 65 in Yuba County; the North Fork casino is planned on Highway 99 in Madera County. The federal Bureau of Indian Affairs approved both projects a year ago and sent them to Brown for final determination, setting off a massive lobbying effort in the state Capitol.

The North Fork and Enterprise tribes are backed by a Las Vegas casino owner, a Chicago racetrack developer, several construction unions, a lobbyist who is a Democratic fundraiser and another whose relationship with Brown goes back to the 1970s.

On the other side, urging Brown to reject the casino proposals, were several wealthy gambling tribes who said competition from new casinos would harm their business, and Sen. Dianne Feinstein and several California congressmen who said the projects would set a new precedent permitting off-reservation casinos.

Tribes are likely to fight Brown's decision in court, said David Quintana, a lobbyist who represents several casino-owning tribes that oppose the projects.

"These decisions change the face of tribal gaming as we know it in California," he said.

Investors will now try to move tribes to the most profitable markets possible, Quintana said, instead of building projects on existing tribal land. He and other opponents argued that the projects violate the law California voters passed in 2000, when they approved what the voter handbook called "gambling on tribal lands."

Supporters argued that the North Fork and Enterprise tribes historically moved around a large area that includes their current rancherias in the mountains and the proposed casino locations on the valley floor. They said the projects will bring self-sufficiency to Indians who have long lived in poverty - and thousands of jobs to hardscrabble Central Valley towns.

 

http://blogs.sacbee.com/capitolalertlatest/2012/08/gov-jerry-brown-approves-two-off-reservation-casinos.html

Gov. Brown Approves Compact For Indian Casino In Yuba County