The big news in the “gaming” world was the issuance of a slew of slot machine licenses. Back in August, a federal court ruled that a cap on slot machine licenses imposed on tribes who signed pacts in 1999 was improper.
So, yesterday the state just started handing out licenses for slot machines to tribes that meet the requirements of the lawsuit. Look for a big new casino near Fresno:
The Big Sandy Band of Western Mono Indians was given approval by the California Gambling Control Commission to add 1,650 new slot machines at a major casino resort it hopes to develop. The tribe previously was allowed a maximum of 350 slots at its casino near the town of Auberry. (SacBee 10/06/09)
At some point, when do we review the question of what the gambling ban for the entirety of the state is making sense? I don’t mean to begrudge the tribes their casinos, but if we are looking at some moral perspective for blocking gambling throughout the state, don’t we shoot all sorts of wholes through that logic with all the casinos we already have in the state?
We’re not fooling anybody, gambling is already legal in California. Why not just go ahead and make it official?
Now, to answer my own question…the tribes have a vested interest in keeping the status quo, and they are willing to spread campaign cash liberally to politicians of all stripes. So, for the time being, we’ll simply keep pretending together.
There is historical precedent. Indians were promised numerous times that we would have exclusive license to export resources where we already had laid claim.
My heroes have always killed cowboys.