Indian Gaming > California tribes create positive image of gaming

November 13, 2006

California tribes create positive image of gaming

With thousands of jobs, charitable contributions and community projects, California tribes are credited with creating a positive image of gaming.

Gambling used to be socially unacceptable. Now, only about a third of Americans disapprove of it, according to national polls.

In San Diego County, home to eight casinos, gaming appears to be everywhere. "You can't go out to an event in San Diego without running into one of the Indian logos on the wall," Gordon Clanton, a San Diego State University sociologist, told The San Diego Union-Tribune.

The eight casinos employ 13,000 people, spent millions on local vendors and donate millions to charities and non-profits. More than 60 percent of county residents say they have visited a casino.

“It was a PR program that we had to do in order to let people know that if you give to us, we're going to give back to you,” said Danny Tucker, the chairman of the Sycuan Band of Kumeyaay Indians.

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