California Governor approves two off-reservation casinos

Governor Jerry Brown Brown signed tribal-state gambling compacts for the Enterprise Rancheria of Maidu Indians' proposed casino near the city of Marysville and the North Fork Rancheria's casino in the Central Valley city of Madera.

The compacts come after the U.S. Department of the Interior's approval in September 2011, which granted the tribes a rare exception to the federal law that prohibits gambling on reservations established after 1988.

The law allows the Interior Secretary to make an exception when the off-reservation facility is in the tribe's best interest. Brown concurred with the federal government, saying the casinos were in the tribes' best interest.

In a letter to U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, Brown said approval of the two casinos is unlikely to allow many other tribes to expand gambling operations in a similar way.  "I expect there will be a 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.

Opponents of off-reservation casinos say they are likely to fight Brown's decision in court.
David Quintana, political director for the California Tribal Business Alliance, said he expects a "very long fight over these casinos." "This is a horrible decision," Quintana said. "This changes the face of tribal gaming in California as we have come to know it."

He said he expects Brown's decision to create "a second gold rush" as investors move to finance casino projects. Quintana said there were "plenty of poor cities" that would be interested in having a casino.

The North Fork casino has a partnership with Station Casinos. Elaine Bethel-Fink, tribal chair of the North Fork, thanked the governor for approving the new compact, saying the decision "represents a significant step forward in our tribe's dreams of self-sufficiency."

The compact must next be ratified by the California Legislature and then approved by the interior secretary, said Charles Banks-Altekruse, a tribal spokesman.

North Fork wants to build a 2,500-slot, 200-room hotel. In its second quarter earning report, Station Casinos estimated construction on the project "may begin in the second half of 2013" and expects the casino to be completed 18 months later.

The North Fork estimates the casino will generate 4,500 direct and indirect jobs, us$ 100 million a year in economic activity and us$ 5 million a year in community funding for Madera County.