8.13.07 Tribe fails in attempt to head off 2 casinos
Joe Nelson, Staff Writer
San Bernardino County Sun
The San Manuel Band of Mission Indians failed to win support last week at a legislative conference in its effort to change U.S. law governing Indian casinos.
Jacob Coin, tribal spokesman, cut short his attempt to win support at the National Conference of State Legislatures in Boston for a change in the law that would bar tribes from building off-reservation casinos unless they can prove an ancestral tie to the land where the casino is to be built.
Billions of dollars are at stake. And Barstow is the prize. Three tribes are vying to build a casino in that city on the solitary route to Las Vegas from Southern California over which thousands of cars travel every day.
San Manuel is opposed to the Los Coyotes Band of Cahuilla and Cupeno Indians of northeastern San Diego County and the Big Lagoon Rancheria tribe of Humboldt County building a casino in Barstow, near the outlet malls because, according to Coin, the tribes do not hold ancestral ties to the land.
The Chemehuevis along the Colorado River also want to build a casino in Barstow. The Chemehuevis have ancestral ties to Barstow.
The National Conference is a bipartisan organization that serves the legislators and staffs of all 50 states, as well as the commonwealths and territories.
Coin said he was hoping to schedule meetings with legislators or members of their executive staffs to organize a congressional push to amend the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act. But those efforts were unsuccessful.
The casino project has enthusiastic support from the city of Barstow, which stands to gain 4.4 percent of an estimated $160 million to $170 million in net gaming revenue annually, a new fire station and an ambulance in the deal, said Tom Shields, spokesman for the Los Coyotes and Big Lagoon tribes. Shields also represents Bar-West, the Detroit-based company that hopes to build and operate twin casinos for the Los Coyotes and Big Lagoon. Its parent corporation already operates casinos in other states.
He said San Manuel's push to thwart the two tribes from getting a casino built is part of a larger effort to keep poorer tribes from competing with high-profit-generating casinos like San Manuel.
"They are just trying to prevent competition. They want to be the only casino between Las Vegas and San Bernardino," Shields said. "They're trying to introduce bogus issues which have nothing to do with the law."
Coin denied the allegation.
"Our response to that, very simply, is that the Chemehuevi tribe along the Colorado River, they are also proposing a casino in Barstow, and we're not opposed to that because they share ancestral connections to the Barstow area with the Serrano Indians," said Coin. San Manuels are Serrano.
But Shields and others say the San Manuels have a commercial interest in Barstow, and are working with the Chemehuevis in trying to get their own casino built.
"There appears to be some sort of business relationship between the two tribes (San Manuel and Chemehuevi)," said Cheryl Schmit co-director of Stand Up for California, a nonprofit organization focusing on gambling issues in California. "It would appear that in trying to pass legislation making a historical nexus to the land, San Manuel would benefit from being partnered with Chemehuevi for a casino in Barstow. It would be a mandatory acquisition."
But Coin maintains the issue of "reservation shopping" has become a huge one at the state level, with concern centered primarily on tribes not only moving hundreds of miles across county boundaries in their own states, but crossing state lines as well to build casinos.
"It's not just these two tribes. There's states all over the country where this kind of reservation shopping has raised alarms," Coin said, adding that the states of New York, Illinois and Ohio are all experiencing situations where tribes are vying to build casinos off their reservations.
In California alone, about 40 tribes are trying to get casinos built off their reservations, Schmit said.
The provisions provided in the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act, Shields said, were drafted for tribes like Los Coyotes and Big Lagoon.
The Los Coyotes reservation comprises 30,000 acres on a mountaintop in northeastern San Diego County unfit for a casino project.
"This is a reservation that's just received electricity around its edges in the last decade," Shields said.
Big Lagoon sits on 20 acres of environmentally sensitive and picturesque coastline in Humboldt County. It has one of the few natural working lagoons in California, Shields said.
The tribe planned to develop on the land but was sued, and as part of a settlement in 2005, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed a compact with the tribe the would allow it to build a casino in Barstow. But the Legislature has refused to enact a measure that would permit the casino. Even if it overcomes that obstacle, the tribe still must obtain permission of the federal government before the casino can be built.
"It's a settlement of this lawsuit for them to go to Barstow. That is the furthest thing from reservation shopping," Shields said. "They're not looking to be millionaires, they're just looking for an opportunity to become self-sufficient."
Billions of dollars are at stake. And Barstow is the prize. Three tribes are vying to build a casino in that city on the solitary route to Las Vegas from Southern California over which thousands of cars travel every day.
San Manuel is opposed to the Los Coyotes Band of Cahuilla and Cupeno Indians of northeastern San Diego County and the Big Lagoon Rancheria tribe of Humboldt County building a casino in Barstow, near the outlet malls because, according to Coin, the tribes do not hold ancestral ties to the land.
The Chemehuevis along the Colorado River also want to build a casino in Barstow. The Chemehuevis have ancestral ties to Barstow.
The National Conference is a bipartisan organization that serves the legislators and staffs of all 50 states, as well as the commonwealths and territories.
Coin said he was hoping to schedule meetings with legislators or members of their executive staffs to organize a congressional push to amend the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act. But those efforts were unsuccessful.
The casino project has enthusiastic support from the city of Barstow, which stands to gain 4.4 percent of an estimated $160 million to $170 million in net gaming revenue annually, a new fire station and an ambulance in the deal, said Tom Shields, spokesman for the Los Coyotes and Big Lagoon tribes. Shields also represents Bar-West, the Detroit-based company that hopes to build and operate twin casinos for the Los Coyotes and Big Lagoon. Its parent corporation already operates casinos in other states.
He said San Manuel's push to thwart the two tribes from getting a casino built is part of a larger effort to keep poorer tribes from competing with high-profit-generating casinos like San Manuel.
"They are just trying to prevent competition. They want to be the only casino between Las Vegas and San Bernardino," Shields said. "They're trying to introduce bogus issues which have nothing to do with the law."
Coin denied the allegation.
"Our response to that, very simply, is that the Chemehuevi tribe along the Colorado River, they are also proposing a casino in Barstow, and we're not opposed to that because they share ancestral connections to the Barstow area with the Serrano Indians," said Coin. San Manuels are Serrano.
But Shields and others say the San Manuels have a commercial interest in Barstow, and are working with the Chemehuevis in trying to get their own casino built.
"There appears to be some sort of business relationship between the two tribes (San Manuel and Chemehuevi)," said Cheryl Schmit co-director of Stand Up for California, a nonprofit organization focusing on gambling issues in California. "It would appear that in trying to pass legislation making a historical nexus to the land, San Manuel would benefit from being partnered with Chemehuevi for a casino in Barstow. It would be a mandatory acquisition."
But Coin maintains the issue of "reservation shopping" has become a huge one at the state level, with concern centered primarily on tribes not only moving hundreds of miles across county boundaries in their own states, but crossing state lines as well to build casinos.
"It's not just these two tribes. There's states all over the country where this kind of reservation shopping has raised alarms," Coin said, adding that the states of New York, Illinois and Ohio are all experiencing situations where tribes are vying to build casinos off their reservations.
In California alone, about 40 tribes are trying to get casinos built off their reservations, Schmit said.
The provisions provided in the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act, Shields said, were drafted for tribes like Los Coyotes and Big Lagoon.
The Los Coyotes reservation comprises 30,000 acres on a mountaintop in northeastern San Diego County unfit for a casino project.
"This is a reservation that's just received electricity around its edges in the last decade," Shields said.
Big Lagoon sits on 20 acres of environmentally sensitive and picturesque coastline in Humboldt County. It has one of the few natural working lagoons in California, Shields said.
The tribe planned to develop on the land but was sued, and as part of a settlement in 2005, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed a compact with the tribe the would allow it to build a casino in Barstow. But the Legislature has refused to enact a measure that would permit the casino. Even if it overcomes that obstacle, the tribe still must obtain permission of the federal government before the casino can be built.
"It's a settlement of this lawsuit for them to go to Barstow. That is the furthest thing from reservation shopping," Shields said. "They're not looking to be millionaires, they're just looking for an opportunity to become self-sufficient."
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