How, can Californians trust tribes that have cheated their own people, violated human and civil rights, craft an online gaming plan for California? Left without oversight on their casino operations, we have had embezzlement, uncounted slot machines, reduced dollars to our state. We now have tribes like Pechanga practicing APARTHEID and segregation on their reservation. The Democrats have on of these crooks leading their Native American Caucus. Can we trust the Democrat Party?
— Representatives of some of the state’s most successful tribes with casinos have met privately to hammer out a proposal to legalize online poker, tribal leaders and others said Tuesday.
— Representatives of some of the state’s most successful tribes with casinos have met privately to hammer out a proposal to legalize online poker, tribal leaders and others said Tuesday.
Deep divisions among the state’s politically influential tribal casino industry — including tribes in Riverside and San Bernardino counties — thwarted past attempts to advance legislation to license online poker in California, one of the world’s largest potential markets.
In recent months, though, tribes that previously opposed online poker because they said it threatened their casino businesses have begun to warm to the idea. Nevada, Delaware and New Jersey have authorized Internet gaming. And a legal site, Ultimate Poker, started taking bets in Nevada last week.
Congress, meanwhile, could adopt nationwide rules harmful to tribes’ interests.
“Tribes are primed right now to begin moving it, to begin working with state legislators to see something to fruition,” Mark Macarro, chairman of the Pechanga Band of Luiseno Indians near Temecula, said at an online gaming conference sponsored by Capitol Weekly, a publication that covers California government and politics.
The Pechanga band and others opposed past proposals to legalize online poker because of fears that online gambling would undercut tribes’ casinos. Macarro, though, said the tribe’s position on that issue “is evolving.”
Another Riverside County tribe, the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians, also is part of the tribal talks. The tribe operates two casinos in the Coachella Valley.
Barry Brokaw, an Agua Caliente lobbyist, said “there has been a great commonality of purpose” among tribes and online poker.
“A lot of those tribes have been working together and we’ve made strides,” Brokaw told the Capitol Weekly audience. “I think there is a possibility that something may develop pretty soon, and we can have some serious discussions with lawmakers in the building and see what we can come up with.”
In addition, the San Manuel Band of Mission Indians near San Bernardino has also been involved. San Manual, along with the Morongo Band of Mission Indians near Banning, was a member of a now-defunct group that sponsored an online poker proposal last year.
Jerry Levine, an attorney working with the San Manuel band, said he thinks the tribes can craft a unified proposal.
California is really stupid if they give this cash cow to the tribes...why not run it themselves like the lottery?..anybody should be able to run a poker website, not just tribes...the voters didn't give them the right for online gambling and they have proven themselves to be cheaters...when I worked at Morongo, one of the bosses girlfriends( now his wife) was fixing all the drawings in the club so her friends would win, she got caught and they both were removed, yet I just saw them both at Soboba and he is the general manager there and my friends that go there say she is always there gambling acting like the queen, wonder how many of her wins are fixed like she did at Morongo?
ReplyDeleteThat’s the problem with Indian gaming if one of their members get caught cheating or rigging they just have them resign let them go. If they were honest they would prosecute gaming crimes not just the crimes that non Indian makes.
ReplyDeleteYou can't trust any of the gaming tribes in California with shit!
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