Bill proposes more slots for Indian tribes
19th February, 2008
A senator from Palm Spring, California has put forward a controversial proposal that could see Indian tribes in the region dramatically expand their slot machine holdings.
Some 2.5 million indigenous Native American Indians currently live in regions of the US Midwest and West. They are split into complex societies of tribes, many of which now rely on casino gambling as a primary source of income.
While casinos are considered a favoured avenue for entrepreneurship among many indigenous groups, however, the California Gambling Control Commission recently imposed a maximum cap on the total number of slots tribes can own - 60,000.
Accusing the commission of strangleholding native Indians, senator Jim Battin is calling for that figure to be doubled so that each of the 61 tribes who own casinos can secure operating rights for 2,000 machines.
"There are tribes around that have '99 compacts (gambling agreements) that can't get any machines," SignOnSanDiego.com reported the Republican senator as saying. "To me, it's an issue of fairness."
California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is currently lobbying voters to back his own proposition for tribal casino expansion, which he says would raise $9 billion (£4.6 billion) in tax revenue for the state.
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