U.S. Deadline Passes; Casinos Remain Open

With about 30 California Indian tribes ignoring the state’s deadline for seeking government approval for their gambling casinos, another round of litigation will begin today that could nonetheless leave unresolved for months, if not years, the future of Indian casinos in the state.

The four U.S. attorneys in California had warned the tribes that if they did not agree by midnight Tuesday to negotiate agreements with the state to operate their casinos, the federal government would move to unplug those machines that are considered to be illegal in California because they have some of the same characteristics as slot machines.

In U.S. District courts in Los Angeles, San Diego, San Francisco and Sacramento, government attorneys today will begin the process of trying to seize the machines, estimated to be more than 13,000 statewide.

But because the federal enforcement is being pursued as a civil, not criminal, action and because any court decisions are sure to be appealed up the judicial ladder, conceivably to the U.S. Supreme Court, there is virtually no chance that the casinos will be closing in the near future.

Despite the looming battle, Gov. Pete Wilson’s office was claiming some success Wednesday, noting that about a dozen tribes in California--some already with casinos, some not--had agreed to negotiate compacts with him, rather than operate unsanctioned casinos.

“In light of the intense pressure and intimidation tactics used by some tribes to pressure others not to act in their best interest, we have nearly a dozen tribes who have contacted us to begin negotiations,” said Ron Low, a Wilson spokesman.

Low did not identify the tribes. The largest gambling tribe to announce Wednesday that it was breaking ranks from the others was the Viejas tribe in San Diego County, whose casino has 925 machines. The tribe agreed to negotiate a compact similar to one between Wilson and the Pala tribe, also in San Diego County, thereby allowing it to keep their existing casino open.

“We want it understood there were no good choices,” tribal Chairman Anthony R. Pico said Wednesday. “This very sobering and difficult decision was made with a gun to our heads.”

The Pala tribe is the first in California to agree to Wilson’s terms on how to operate a gambling casino, and after that pact was reached, Wilson gave the other tribes until midnight Tuesday either to agree to the Pala terms or to negotiate their own compacts--after first unplugging their contested devices as a condition of beginning negotiations.

The state’s largest gambling tribes continued to protest Wilson’s demands Wednesday, saying that they infringed on their sovereign rights to conduct gambling operations. Tribal leaders said they would negotiate with Wilson, but not on the condition that they first turn off the machines that Wilson finds objectionable.

At a news conference Wednesday, Mary Ann Martin Andreas, chairwoman of the Morongo band of Mission Indians, complained that Indians were in the middle of a vise.

“The Department of Justice held a gun to our head and the state of California mugged us,” she said.

She and leaders of other tribes said they hoped that enforcement actions would be taken cautiously.

Michael Yamaguchi, the U.S. attorney in San Francisco, agreed. “This [civil lawsuit] is a very, very measured response. It meets the need for enforcement while at the same time ensuring that everyone has the opportunity to be heard.

“It’s better to do it this way than to have physical confrontation and the possibility of harm to one side or the other,” he said.

I. Nelson Rose, a professor at Whittier Law School and an expert on Indian gambling issues, said the federal courts will not be hurried to rule on the future of Indian casinos.

Similar litigation in Washington state, when federal authorities tried to close down an Indian casino, was drawn out for more than two years, he noted.