"Four statewide propositions on the Feb. 5 ballot would allow four Southern California Indian tribes to increase the number of slot machines at their casinos on reservation land.

Propositions 94, 95, 96 and 97 affirm agreements worked out between Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and the state's four largest gaming tribes - the Pechanga, Morongo, Agua Caliente and Sycuan tribes in Riverside and San Diego counties - to allow a total of 17,000 more slot machines in exchange for a larger share of the proceeds for the state. The agreements were ratified by the Legislature last summer after several public hearings.

The agreements would have gone into effect and never been put before voters had not other gaming interests - most notably a Las Vegas casino, the state's horse-racing tracks and other Indian tribes - mustered the signatures to force them onto the Feb. 5 ballot in the hope of overturning them. The campaign fight going on now is essentially between two gambling interests.

No matter what you think about gambling and its social and moral costs, California already allows gaming on Indian reservations, as well as various other forms of gambling. And we elected our state representatives to handle such responsibilities as working out compacts with the Indian tribes, so voters don't have to.

For these reasons, and the fact that there would be a significant increase in the casinos' payments to the state's general fund, voters should vote for these four measures."

Get the Story:
Editorial: Yes on Indian gaming (The Los Angeles Daily News 1/25)

Another Editorial:
Editorial: California's 2008 Propositions (The Stanford Daily 1/25)