"Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who has helped bring an expansion of casino gambling to the state during his tenure, is finally drawing the line. He has joined the chorus in opposing a plan for Las Vegas-style gambling at Point Molate in Richmond.

The proposed site, as the governor notes in a please-don't letter to the federal Bureau of Indian Affairs, is the wrong spot for a new casino. Schwarzenegger has struck deals that increased gambling in exchange for more state revenue, a position that's contributed to larger-scale California casinos.

But the Republican governor - along with Democratic Sens. Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer - is opposing the land transfers for the bayside casino plan for an important reason: It would open the floodgates to casinos in urban areas, not the rural locations that voters intended in two statewide ballot measures that gave the go-ahead to tribal gaming.

These leaders are right to put the brakes on the Point Molate site. Opening up there, north of the eastern end of the Richmond-San Rafael bridge, would shred the general bargain between voters and the tribes: Reservations with few economic resources could host casinos in a bid for tribal self-help. These ballot measures - and the tribal leaders who backed them - never anticipated acres of slot machines in the Bay Area or other population centers."

Get the Story:
Editorial: A bad bet (The San Francisco Chronicle 10/15)