People are still visiting casinos in California but they are spending less, a situation that's not expected to improve until the middle of next year.

The region that includes California saw a 5.8 drop in tribal gaming revenues last year. That was the biggest drop in Indian Country.

"Everything around us is so depressed, so the tribal gaming is depressed," Deron Marquez, a former tribal chairman of the San Manuel Band of Mission Indians, told The Los Angeles Times.

The Times visited the San Manuel casino and one owned by the Morongo Band of Mission Indians. Players were clamoring for penny and 25-cent slot machines, along with lower-dollar table games, the paper said.

"We have the same amount of people and they come in as frequently, but they are just spending less," Mike Hiles, a tribal information officer for the Soboba Band of Luiseño Indians, told the paper.

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Recession is in play at California's tribal casinos (The Los Angeles Times 11/20)