The future of California Indian gambling industry in North County is at stake, waiting to be tackled by the regulatory forces. It all began in the mid-1980s when the only catered gaming options, tribes could enjoy from were a bunch of bingo parlors. Today, the situation is nothing like it's used to be. The industry spread its wings embracing the Las Vegas-style gambling which got vehemently promoted in 2000 by a vote on Proposition 1A. That was a turning point for California's Indian reservations where new technology has driven the regulatory ambiguity and excessive contention.
In order to smoother down the ambiguities in regulations, state officials have come up with new guidelines and definitions for some of the games. The tribal government which sees itself as a primary regulatory body does not advocate these endeavors, to say the least. They demand to have an upper hand on writing the new rules.
A tribal gambling consultant, Michael Lombardi believes tribes could have set just fine featuring only bingo, but the state officials wouldn't allow that. In retrospect, Lombardi says that was the nut crack causing the tribes to undergo legal challenges in order to establish their own casinos. In the 1999 compact there are few paragraphs specifying the limitation of slot machines to 2,000 and prohibition of games, such as craps and roulette. Some tribes are laboring on development of new games to bypass the besieged limits.
|
| Source: gamblingsmart news writer
|
Sunday, 6 February 2005 |
Thursday, July 29 2010 
