Detroit's Casinos Poised to Lose 20-30% of Their Business to new Hollywood Casino Toledo next year

Short-sighted infighting and competitive jealousy among Detroit's three casino operators 

could keep them from working together to collectively market Detroit as a destination 

with sports venues, theaters, concert halls and other attractions.

Penn National Gaming's Hollywood Casino Toledo

Matt Helm of the Detroit Free Press is reporting that Penn National Gaming is set to open Hollywood Casino Toledo in April.  The $300 million gambling palace will have 2,000 slot machines, 60 table games and 20 live poker tables; comparable in size to Detroit's three commercial casinos.  

For more than a decade, Toledo residents who had an urge to gamble got in their cars or on charter buses to make the one-hour drive north on I-75 where they could play at any Detroit's three Las Vegas-style casinos. However, with the opening of the Toledo casino, locals there hope to stem the steady traffic northward and keep that gambling money in Toledo.

Detroit casino operators won't talk in detail about where their customers live, so it's not clear how much of the $1.3 billion in revenues reported at Detroit's three casinos each year since 2006 comes from Ohio residents.

But Jake Miklojcik, a casino analyst and president of Lansing-based Michigan Consultants who is often used as a resource by Detroit's casino operators, said he has heard out-of-state gamblers -- primarily from Ohio and Ontario -- represent as much as 20% to 30% of the clientele who sign up for Detroit casino player loyalty cards.

That Detroit’s self-interested casinos now spend their efforts as Miklojcik explains, "fighting over the same patron, money Detroit is going to get anyway," may create even greater exposure for the Detroit gambling halls. "That fight over that person," Miklojcik explains, " is a zero-sum game for the industry as a whole."

Penn National is the nation's third largest gambling enterprise with vast marketing expertise and experience. Their newest casino will open with amenities including a top-notch steakhouse, live entertainment seven days a week, and plentiful parking -- nearly 2,900 spaces.  Penn National understands the importance of partnering with hotels in downtown Toledo and in nearby suburbs to offer entertainment packages with destinations such as the Huntington Center to lure visitors.  The company plans to market “over the border” in southeast Michigan as well, including billboards along I-75 and U.S.-23.

The Toledo casino will be the first of four casinos to open in Ohio since voters approved one for each of the State’s four biggest cities. Penn National will operate all four venues.  Read more

New Hollywood Casino Toledo just 1-hour for downtown Detroit

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EDITORIAL: Malik seeks to distance his own casino scheme and expose fellow casino promoter's 'con game'

8.14.07

EDITORIAL: Lawsuit seeks end to DeFeo's con games

Checkered past of would-be developer gets court exposure

If some see Clinton Township businessman Tony DeFeo's $600 million development as the savior of Kimball Township, a range of factors suggest the opposite.

For starters, there isn't any solid evidence DeFeo even could pull off the 505-room hotel, 7,800-seat arena, 8,000-seat stadium and 400,000-square-foot convention center he plans to build near Kimball's Horizon Outlet Center. Dirt has been moved, and trees cut down, but that's no indication the project actually is under way.

There is no official mention of a gambling facility at the site, the key feature of his failed development proposal for downtown Port Huron. DeFeo is the defendant of a lawsuit, however, that contends he's hawking the project as the home of a new casino to potential investors.

Mike Malik, a leader of the campaign for an Indian-owned casino at Port Huron's Thomas Edison Inn, is the plaintiff. The suit, filed Friday in St. Clair County Circuit Court, seeks an injunction on DeFeo's Kimball Township project.

Among its allegations:

DeFeo is using the name "Blue Water Casino," strikingly similar to Malik's company, Blue Water Resorts, L.L.C.

DeFeo is deliberately using the name "to confuse investors, the public and public officials."

DeFeo's legal problems speak to his intention to deceive investors. He was convicted in 2002 for conspiracy to sell marijuana. He filed for personal bankruptcy in June 2001, two months before several partners agreed to settle a fraud lawsuit for $1 million. Barry Switzer, former coach of the Dallas Cowboys and the University of Oklahoma, Dave McCurdy a former Democratic congressman of Oklahoma and former Oklahoma attorney general Larry Derryberry, were among those who paid the settlement. TransNav Properties LLC and three individuals - Konstantine Kpordelis, Ilja Vreeken and Steven Vreeken - sued DeFeo and three companies three months ago in Oakland County Circuit Court. They said they paid $200,000 for two shares in a Port Huron casino. They are suing for fraud.

Malik's suit details more examples of DeFeo's questionable practices, enough to warn potential investors that giving him money for a casino or any other scheme is a sure way to make their investments disappear.

It further confirms growing suspicions of our community that the self-styled developer has all the unmistakable marks of a confidence man. His schemes - a casino in Port Huron, an automobile factory in Port Huron Township and managing the St. Clair County International Airport - share one thing in common: big talk with no substance.

Kimball Township officials hope DeFeo isn't just blowing smoke about his plans. The township is stuck with a half-built arena that attracts trespassers who pose safety concerns. A commercial development there would be a relief.

Like any good confidence man, though, DeFeo knows how to spin a good yarn. Malik's suit hopes to prevent another unhappy ending.

JACK LESSENBERRY: Mike Ilitch wants to tear down Tiger Stadium, he fears competition

8.08.07

Nostalgia among ruins
by Jack Lessenberry

Whenever I drive into Detroit from the south I get a tiny thrill when the city skyline first comes into view. Suddenly, just over where the rainbow should be, buildings appear that spell gleaming modern metropolis. First the Renaissance Center, then the outline of the river, then the towers of the Fisher and what we all once again call the Penobscot Building, and the rest.

But as you get closer, a growing sense of unease begins when you come upon the city's signature eyesore, the hulking wreck of the Michigan Central (train) Station, Detroit's own best attempt to create the look of Berlin in 1945.

The ruin, not incidentally, is owned, not by the city, but by our own gray spook-in-the shadows, Ambassador Bridge owner Matty Moroun. Anyone who wants to let him corner the market by building a second bridge needs to drive over and look long at that broken-glass horror.

Drive a little farther, and you see the immense, fading white hulk of the place where legends came to play for a century: Tiger Stadium. Half a century ago, new ballplayers called up from the bushes or just traded from teams like the New York Giants would arrive at that train station and take a short cab ride to the ballpark, then deeply dark green. Twenty-year-old Al Kaline thought it looked like a battleship when he first saw it. They all played there: Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig and Ty Cobb, Ted Williams and Joe DiMaggio and one-armed Pete Gray.

Almost certainly, Mike Ilitch does not want a preserved and redeveloped Tiger Stadium.

Yet it wore out; it was time for major renovation or something new, and eight years ago, after two decades in which fans fought fierce, bitter battles to preserve the old stadium, the Tigers fled to Comerica Park a mile away.

The new park is wonderful, and does as much as any stadium could to honor this historic sport's storied past. In other cities, the normal pattern is to tear down the old park pretty much the moment a new one is complete. That's what happened in Chicago and Cleveland and Brooklyn.

Yet Tiger Stadium is still there, the concrete from the upper decks crumbling, the rest rooms ruined, pipes rusted beyond repair. Two weeks ago, Detroit City Council finally voted, 5-4, to tear it down, leaving the field for kids to play ball on, after the tons of concrete and plastic and steel are hauled away.

In baseball, however, it's never over till it's over. Suddenly, and at the last minute, Ernie Harwell, Detroit's most revered sports icon, stepped forward with a plan to save the stadium, or at least a large part of it, from destruction.

Here's what the world's greatest announcer and his friend and lawyer, S. Gary Spicer, have in mind: They would destroy most of the structure, including all the concrete in the cavernous outfield, leaving a few thousand seats near home plate. The stadium would be knocked back to the way it was when it opened in April 1912, the week the Titanic went down.

What would they do with it? That's a little murky. They would like to see high school and college teams train there, and maybe gospel music concerts on Sundays. That sounds lovely, but it isn't clear to me how that would pay for the upkeep, though one can imagine Wayne State and maybe the University of Detroit Mercy, even, paying to use the ballpark as their home field.

Ernie would also like to see music and sports museums as part of the complex, and maybe a community center. It might well make sense for the Michigan Sports Hall of Fame to find a new permanent home there.

That all sounds very lovely. Whatever that part of Detroit needs — and it needs a lot, economically and otherwise — it doesn't need another vacant lot.

Yet the odds seem long against any of it happening. Contrary to some published reports, Harwell told me Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick seemed receptive to the idea, and did nothing to discourage Spicer and Harwell from traveling to Wall Street to seek the $20 million or so in financing they'd need.

"He said we had a couple months," Ernie said. That cost the mayor nothing; as it is, demolition isn't slated to start till October.

The mayor is too smart to be rude to an icon. But my guess is that KK doesn't think they have much chance of getting the funding they need, and my guess is, sadly, that he is also right. Money is short and tight these days, and Detroit hasn't exactly been a magnet for investors.

There's another reason, too, which nobody talks about very much. Almost certainly, Mike Ilitch, the city's own Little Caesar, does not want a preserved and redeveloped Tiger Stadium, no matter what form that takes.

For what if some enterprising hot shot were to buy or create an independent minor league franchise and have the team play in Tiger Stadium, selling tickets for a small fraction of what they would sell for in Comerica Park?

This year, as last, the major league club is a pennant contender. But the Tigers won't always be good. In fact, for most of the time they've been in Comerica, the team has been so lousy they should have paid us to see them.

Imagine what a scrappy and affordable minor league team might have done to major league attendance in those years. Nor do I see the Ilitches as being thrilled at the thought of a potentially competitive venue for concerts and events. And the Ilitches, with their holdings and their teams and their money, most assuredly have influence in and with the city.

Would they use it to block saving the stadium? Odds are they won't have to, because Spicer and Harwell won't be able to raise that much capital.

If they do, we'll see.

But that's far from the only problem. What, I cynically wonder, is — even if they did build it, how many would come? How many of the suburbanites who want so badly to preserve the memory of Detroit as it was would really make use of this facility? Oh, a lot of them might come — once.

Now if there were some sort of shuttle from Comerica to a renovated Tiger Stadium museum-entertainment complex, that could mean a critical mass. People might come in for a game, take the nostalgia trip, and have dinner at Slows Bar B-Q, or Baile Corcaigh, two fine restaurants within walking distance.

That could work, probably would work. But is anyone really willing to make a commitment here? Part of what this is about is this: On one side, we have a gritty poor city of color, fighting hard for economic survival. On the other, legions of nostalgic whites, mostly long since fled to the suburbs, who want to preserve in amber the images of the Detroit they remember from their childhoods.

They don't really want to remember that the days of bustling prosperity were also a time when Ty Cobb beat a black man senseless in broad daylight for no reason, and got away with it, because he was white, famous and he could.

If all of us got together and agreed the past was important, but that the future is even more so — well then, Detroit might have a future, one in which the best of the past was celebrated and enjoyed, and the worst understood.

We could do that, but we probably won't. But you know what they say in baseball: You never can tell.

YouTube: Barstow Citizen Activist Gets It! Barwest has made no progress going to war with regional tribes

Barstow Citizen Activist Larry Halstead 6.04.07

A citizen activist frequently spotted at Barstow City Council meetings, who often sites TheVerifiableTruth.com as a reference tool and alternative source of information, speaks out on the realities of future dual Indian casinos in Barstow being bankrolled by Detroit-based Barwest LLC.

Barwest LLC began secret talks with the City of Barstow beginning in 2001/02 to develop plans and set out on the approval process to land an off-reservation Indian casino in that community; five years later, Barwest LLC and City of Barstow officials have yet to meet with leaders of regional Indian Tribes and Native American organizations to develop concensus on a direction for any possible Barstow casino resort.

Instead, Barwest's out of state casino syndicators (friends and business partners of some of Las Vegas' biggest gaming companies), have elected all out war with Southern California's established Native American casino interests and those tribes that are indigenous to the greater Barstow area. In doing so, Barwest has made very little progress toward bringing a casino project to Barstow the last 3-4 years.

TV Ad supporting ratification of expanded tribal gaming compacts

TogetherCalifornia.com

Secret deal would at least double size of tribes' twin casino mega resort holdings

Top Secret

Shrewd Detroit casino syndicators have secret side agreements to double, maybe triple, the size of tribes’ casino resort complexes in Barstow, CA

According to documents sent to TheVerifiableTruth.com, the Detroit casino developer Barwest has acquired another 75-100 acres of land in Barstow that it will “sell” to the Big Lagoon Rancheria and Los Coyotes Band of Cahuilla and Cupeno Indians after the tribes have 50-acres currently owned by Barwest taken into Trust by the U.S. Secretary of Interior; and complete development of their main casino and resort complexes in Barstow.

The additional 75-100 acres is contiguous to the two parcels, approximately 25-acres each, where both tribe plans their casinos, resort hotels, spas and convention facilities. By terms of this secret deal, ultimately the tribes would control a mega resort that was 125 to 150 acres anchored by two casinos – a far cry from the 20-acres the City of Barstow originally approved for the Los Coyotes Band of Indians.

Specifically, the secret agreement reads:

“Barwest has entered into a purchase agreement to acquire additional land to the south of the Site, bearing Assessors Parcel Nos. 0428-171-56, 54 and 57, and may acquire the parcel bearing Assessors Parcel No. 0428-171-55 (this land is collectively referred to herein as the “South Extension”). The Southern Extension shall be utilized for access, parking and other amenities common to the Project as a whole, and prior to opening of the gaming facilities shall be sold and conveyed to the Tribes for an amount equal to the actual costs and expenses incurred by BarWest with respect to the acquisition and development of the Southern Extension, including due diligence expense, closing costs and attorney fees, and divided in an equitable fashion that guarantees access and parking for both tribes.”

Indian gaming lines up powerful allies

Note: The writer below, an acknowledged adversary of the established gaming tribes, fails to acknowledge the millions that Organized Labor has showered on legislators over the years which is why Organized Labor may be able to block the Compacts in the Assembly absent any amended provisions to the gaming agreements addressing labor’s outstanding concerns. In 2006, Organized Labor contributed more than $13.5 million to candidates in California. In 2006 contributions from Organized Labor ranked second only to “Candidates Self-Financing” among the top ten sources of political campaign contributions by “industry.” More than $240,000 went to Fabian Núñez last year; and Albert Torrico received $140,000. In contrast, Speaker Núñez received $26,800 from Tribal Governments and Torrico, chair of the Assembly Governmental Organization Committee, received $34,400. Overall, Tribal Governments contributed $5.1 million to candidates in California.

---

Posted Wednesday, 04.25.07 - 6:00 pm at
(www.laweekly.com)

Tribal Warfare
Indian gaming lines up powerful allies

By MARC COOPER

Even with the current housing slump, a paltry $1.6 million still won’t buy you much of a house on the Westside. Maybe an older 3 + 2 with a fiberglass carport. Better to invest your money in Sacramento, where the same tidy sum can buy you an entire legislative house — in this case, the California state Senate, packed wall to wall with senators ready to serve your every desire. A million six is how much a conglomerate of wealthy Indian gambling tribes spent on recent campaign contributions to key members of the state Democratic leadership, and it garnered an almost instant return.

With little media notice, and certainly with no real public debate, the state Senate fast-tracked a package of five new gambling deals with California’s richest tribes and overwhelmingly voted 22-10 to approve them last week…

…The ram-roding of these measures through the Senate, with an able assist from Governor Schwarzenegger, in no way guarantees their approval in the Assembly, where resistance remains fierce. At the end of last year’s legislative session, the Assembly refused to vote on the agreements. Sticking points were less-than-full rights by labor to organize the low-wage casino workers and lack of sufficient regulatory and fiscal oversight of the casinos. That was the argument put forth by one of the few Democratic senators who voted against the compacts. “I can’t vote for an expansion of gambling,” Senator Sheila Kuehl, D–Santa Monica, said. “I can’t vote for organizations that now refuse to take care of their workers in any fair way that we require of virtually everyone else in the state.”

After last Thursday’s vote in the Senate, prospects in the Assembly were still far from rosy. Northern California Assemblyman Alberto Torrico, a Democrat, said the gambling deals that sprinted through the Senate in no way softened the stiff opposition in the Assembly, led by himself and Democratic House Speaker Fabian Núñez. “Those five compacts... do not have the votes to be ratified... on the Assembly floor,” Torrico said. “I’m certain of that.” …

…The next few months may see a dramatic standoff develop between the Senate’s Democratic leadership, allied with the high-roller tribes, and the Assembly Democrats led by Núñez, who is allied with the powerful hotel workers union that opposes the deal. Núñez has been trying to piece together a side agreement between the tribes and the unions that would deflate the organizing-rights issue and open the way for ratification of the compacts.

But now it looks like the tribes aren’t going to sit patiently to work things out with Núñez. Starting this week, the wealthy Morongo tribe, near Palm Springs (which stands to triple its number of slot machines if the deal is approved), has launched a $1.25-million-a-week campaign of TV advertising spots aimed at winning the hearts and minds of California voters. With the Assembly taking as much as a month or more to get around to considering the compacts, outside observers expect the eventual ad buy from the Morongos to run from $3 million to $5 million as deliberations stretch out...

…Their latest rumored threat seems ominous. Reports now circulate that if the tribes don’t get their way with the Assembly, they will directly intervene with millions of dollars in next February’s special balloting on the issue of extending legislative term limits. This is Fabian Núñez’s pet project — one on which he is banking the extension of his own career. He knows that to come out ahead, this might be the time to go to the mats against the tribes. (Full Story)

Senate approved Schwarzenegger negotiated compacts for expanded gaming by So Cal Tribes; headed for battle in the Assembly

04.19.07, 4:18 PM ET

Calif. Senate OKs Gambling Expansion

By AARON C. DAVIS
Associated Press

The California Senate on Thursday approved the largest-ever expansion of Indian gambling in the state.

If passed by the Assembly, the agreements would allow tribes to operate an additional 22,500 slot machines, the equivalent of more than 10 Las Vegas-sized casinos. It would represent a 50 percent increase in the number of slots operating in the state's Indian casinos.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who negotiated the agreements with the tribes last year, is counting on the Legislature to approve the pacts by mid-May to help balance his spending plan for the budget year that begins in July.

He is relying on tribes installing thousands of the slot machines within months and beginning to pay the state $500 million annually in casino winnings to close the state's chronic budget deficit. The state's nonpartisan budget analyst has said such expectations are unrealistic and projects less than half that amount coming to the state during the first few years.

The compacts approved Thursday are for five Southern California tribes that already have casinos and one tribe in far Northern California that has tried for years to get state authorization for a gambling hall.

The deals allow the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians to more than double - from 2,000 to 5,000 - the total number of slot machines and other games it operates at its two casinos in Palm (nasdaq: PALM - news - people ) Springs and Rancho Mirage.

The Sycuan Band of the Kumeyaay Nation in San Diego also would be allowed to increase the number of machines it operates from 2,000 to 5,000. The Morongo Band of Mission Indians northwest of Palm Springs, the Pechanga Band of Luiseno Indians in Temecula and the San Manuel Band of Mission Indians in San Bernardino would be allowed to more than triple - to 7,500 - the number of slot machines they operate.

In exchange, the state expects to collect billions of dollars over the compacts' 30-year span.

The Senate also approved a much smaller gambling agreement with the Yurok Indians, a 5,000-member tribe that is the state's largest but also among its poorest. The Yuroks will be allowed to install up to 99 slot machines at their reservation near Klamath in Del Norte County, most of which lacks electricity.

Compacts similar to those approved Thursday never made it out of the Legislature last year, in large part because of objections from labor groups.

In asking her colleagues to support the casino expansions, Sen. Denise Ducheny, D-San Diego, stressed that the agreements contained the same labor protections included in the original compacts negotiated by former Gov. Gray Davis.

They also require tribes to work more closely with local governments to offset the effects of increased traffic and other problems caused by casino expansions, said Ducheny, who carried the Morongo and Sycuan bills.

Her comments were a nod to unions, which have opposed the agreements. They say the deals roll back important advances for labor that Schwarzenegger included when he signed other agreements with tribes in 2004. Unions say those provisions made it easier for casino workers to organize.

Sen. Sheila Kuehl, D-Santa Monica, cited the labor issues and gambling's larger toll on society in urging lawmakers to vote against the bills. She said Indian gambling in the state had grown beyond what voters intended.

"Gambling is never a good thing for a state or a nation. It eats away; it's an addiction," Kuehl said. "But we compromised and said this was going to help these poor tribes get on their feet. Well, they're so on their feet now they're getting billions of dollars a year. I say, 'good for them,' but I can't vote for an expansion of gambling."

Indian gambling has grown to a $7 billion-a-year industry in California and has allowed tribes to become one of the most influential forces in state politics. An Associated Press review last week found that tribes had donated $1.6 million to the Democratic lawmakers who carried this year's casino-expansion bills.

In a statement, Schwarzenegger praised the Senate for passing the agreements.

"I believe these compacts are good for the state, the tribes and the local communities," Schwarzenegger said, urging the Assembly to quickly adopt them.

"Every additional day of delay costs the state millions of dollars for critical services that Californians rely upon," he said.

Schwarzenegger has said he will not accept tribal money.

Robert Martin, chairman of the Morongo Indians, said the tribe would be able to quickly increase its gambling operation to about 5,000 of the 7,500 slot machines it would be entitled to under the compacts.

"I'm comfortable with our market and think we can do that right away," he said.

The fate of the compacts in the Assembly, however, is uncertain.

Last fall, the Agua Caliente expansion was the only one the Assembly's labor-friendly Democratic majority brought to a vote. The rest were never considered.

While some lawmakers have threatened to tie up the compacts in committee hearings, others have said recent federal court decisions regarding casino labor issues may give the Assembly cover to approve them.

CA Senate takes up the Indian gambling compacts today.

posted this morning by The Sacramento Bee's CapitolAlert:

The AM Alert - Breaking News
Published 5:50 am PDT Thursday, April 19, 2007

[In Sacramento today,] The Senate takes up the Indian gambling compacts today.

Negotiated last year by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger at the close of the legislative session, the five compacts would allow for the expansion of 22,500 new slot machines in the state.

Over the next 25 years, California stands to receive $13.4 billion to $22.4 billion in casino revenue-sharing payments, if the compacts are approved.

Organized labor has been heavily lobbying to scuttle the compacts, though unions are expected to draw the line in the Assembly, not the Senate, where Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata supports the gambling deals.

Wisconsin tribes fighting over casino plans; highlight Mohegan Sun involvement

as posted at indianz.com
04.17.07

Wisconsin tribes fight over off-reservation casino

Two Wisconsin tribes continue to battle over plans for an off-reservation casino.

The Menominee Nation wants to open a casino in Kenosha, nearly 200
miles from the reservation. The Mohegan Tribe of Connecticut, the owner of one the largest casinos in the world, is financing the project.

The Forest County Potawatomi Tribe is running ads against the proposal, highlighting the Mohegan involvement. The tribe operates an off-reservation casino in downtown Milwaukee.

The casino is currently before the Bureau of Indian Affairs in Washington, D.C. If it gains approval there, the state governor has to concur with the decision.

Even if that happens, the Menominee Nation still needs to have the land placed in trust for the casino site. Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne has raised concerns about off-reservation gaming.

Los Coyotes supports San Manuel pact now; Unions still oppose Pechanga

Pact on Pechanga casinos fails to win over unions

10:00 PM PDT on Wednesday, April 11, 2007

By JIM MILLER
Sacramento Bureau

SACRAMENTO - Labor unions Wednesday attacked a renegotiated gaming agreement with the Pechanga Band of Luiseño Indians near Temecula, alleging that the deal, known as a compact, lacks protections for casino workers.

A short while later, though, union leaders urged support for a nearly identical compact with the San Manuel Band of Mission Indians near Highland.

The distinction -- the San Manuel tribe has a union agreement with hundreds of its employees while Pechanga does not -- underscored a second day of intense testimony in a Senate committee hearing on compacts negotiated last summer between Gov. Schwarzenegger and five wealthy gaming tribes, four of them in Riverside or San Bernardino counties.

It also could determine which agreements the Legislature ratifies. The full Senate could consider the deals as early as next week.

Under the compacts, participating Inland tribes could add up to 19,500 slot machines in return for the tribes paying more money to the state.

Wednesday, Pechanga Chairman Mark Macarro said the agreement with his tribe would help the local economy and generate an extra $14 million for the state annually before slot machine are even installed.

The tribe plans to add 1,500 slot machines within five years, he said. The compact allows the tribe to have up to 7,500 slots.

Macarro said the tribe will not be pressured into accepting parts of 2004 compacts that made it easier to unionize casino workers, even if means giving up a chance for more slot machines.

"Every tribe is uniquely situated. San Manuel went a different direction than we did," he said. "At any point in time, we've never felt like we were holding onto an agreement so tight that we couldn't walk away. There are just certain lines that we won't cross."

San Manuel's compact drew much less opposition Wednesday.

The tribe's vice chairman, Vince Duro, said it is ready to install many of the additional 5,500 slot machines allowed under the deal.

"San Manuel is not a problem," said Michael Hartigan, the state president of the workers union that represents San Manuel employees

Leaders of a San Diego County tribe trying to build a casino in Barstow testified in favor of the San Manuel deal. But they used the opportunity to urge the Legislature to ratify their own gaming agreement, something opposed by the San Manuel and other Inland tribes.

"The rich are getting richer and the poor are getting the shaft," said Francine Cupsch, secretary of the tribal council of the Los Coyotes band.

Reach Jim Miller at 916-445-9973 or jmiller@PE.com

Sacramento: Union leaders and Senators wrap up second day of skirmsh over tribal gaming compacts

April 11, 2007

Senators press union leader on change of tune on tribal organizing

Debra Gruszecki
The Desert Sun

SACRAMENTO -- The skirmish with labor unions continued today in the second wave of hearings on tribal gaming compacts before a state Senate committee.

Unite HERE! Leader Jack Gribbon repeated his request to halt any action on ratification of the compact amendments, which would allow up to 22,500 more slots in tribal casinos across the state.

That increase includes more than 8,000 new slots in the Coachella Valley -- at casinos owned by the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians and the Morongo Band of Mission Indians. Agua Caliente and Morongo leaders testified Tuesday.

The leader of the 450,000-member union representing hotel, casino and needle-workers, said “We ask you to support the most vulnerable people in the state,” this morning in the hearing on the request to add slots for Pechanga Band of Luiseño Indians and San Manuel Band of Missions Indians.

The compacts did not pass in 2006 – following last-minute labor opposition and lobbying.

This time, however, in the stand-room-only hearing room, today state Sens. Jim Battin R-La Quinta and Jeff Denham R-Merced grilled union leaders on the differences between the Tribal Labor Relations Ordinance struck in 1999, which allows workers to organize through a secret ballot systems. The Tribal Labor Relations Ordinance is in effect at local casinos as part of the compacts approved in 1999.

Unite HERE! wants a “card check” system, allowing organizers to approach workers if they sign a card.

Tribes say that the secret ballot method that is part of the 1999 compacts allows workers to organize if they want.

Battin led a news account from the 1999 Los Angeles Times coverage of the tribal compact approval. The article said that Gribbon supported the secret ballot, or Tribal Labor Relations Ordinance passed then.

“What's changed?" Battin asked.

Gribbon was quoted in the LA Times at the passage of the 1999 compacts as saying, "It's finished. It's done...it's a significant compromise with labor."

An observer watching the proceedings today in the overflow crowd uttered "Ouch!" when closed circuit TV broadcast that portion of the hearing to the hallway.

Gribbon said the secret ballot matters were discussed clear through 4 a.m. in 1999 and that then-Senate Pro Tem John Burton D-San Francisco and then-Assemblyman Antonio Villaraigosa D-Los Angeles, both noted for their strong support of labor, approached and said it was the best they could do.

Gribbon told today’s hearing that he was advised at the time to support Proposition 1A for workers’ rights because it was the best they could do.

Unfortunately (since that time), Gribbon said today, some tribes have not shown good faith.

Battin and Denham both said they are hard-pressed to find cases where tribes have shut organization cases out.

The hearings and lobbying will continue throughout the day in Sacramento on the issue that has attracted supporters and detractors ranging from labor unions to business groups to social organizations and tribal nations.

Some time after noon today, petitions bearing more than 12,000 signatures are expected to be presented to the governor's office asking for no more slot expansion.

http://www.thedesertsun.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070411/UPDATE/70411008/1263/RSS01

indianz.com: California tribes push for approval of compacts

as posted 04.08.07 at indianz.com :

Five California tribes are headed to the Legislature this week to seek approval of their new gaming compacts. The deals would allow the already successful tribes to add as many as 22,000 new slot machines and expand their facilities. In exchange, the state could see up to $500 million in revenue a year. The Senate is expected to easily approve the agreements, according to The Los Angeles Times. But Assembly Members are concerned about the lack of provisions affecting labor unions and independent audits. The tribes are the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians, the Morongo Band of Mission Indians, the Pechanga Band of Luiseno Indians, the Sycuan Band of Kumeyaay Indians and the San Manuel Band of Mission Indians. Get the Story: Valley's casinos go all in (The Palm Springs Desert Sun 4/9) Tribal gaming accords on the table (The Los Angeles Times 4/8) Username: indianz@indianz.com, Password: indianzcom Casinos lobby for more slots (The Palm Springs Desert Sun 4/8) Gaming talks set to begin (The San Bernardino Sun 4/8)

indianz.com -- recent stories on Indian Gaming in California

CA Tribes prepared to push for ratification of amended Compacts when the legislature returns from "Spring Break"

03.28.07
posted on INDIANZ.com

California tribes renew push for gaming compacts

Six California tribes are renewing their push to have their amended gaming compacts ratified by the state Legislature.

The Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians, the Morongo Band of Mission Indians, the Pechanga Band of Luiseño Indians, the Pechanga Band of Luiseño Indians, the Sycuan Band of Kumeyaay Nation and the Yurok Tribe signed deals last year with Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R). In most cases, the tribes would be able to break the 2,000 limit on slot machines in exchange for sharing more revenues.

The tribes are lining up sponsors for their compacts in order to get them passes after the upcoming spring recess.

Get the Story: Senator set to carry tribe's bill (The Palm Springs Desert Sun 3/28)

San Manuel Tribe in parntership with Santa Anita Race Track

Thursday, March 1, 2007

Run for the Money

Horse racing, casino gaming find a common ground

By JONATHAN SHIKES

SANTA ANITA -- When Santa Anita Park holds its richest race of the season Saturday, the lead sponsor will be part of horse racing's chief rivals in California.

Terry Pierson / The Press-Enterprise

Although the San Manuel Indian Bingo & Casino is a competitor, its banners wave at Santa Anita Park near Los Angeles. The two entertainment venues have entered a sponsorship agreement for the Santa Anita Handicap to be held Saturday.

With a purse of $1 million, the Santa Anita Handicap is being presented by the San Manuel Indian Bingo and Casino, a tribal gaming hall near San Bernardino.

In December, the casino signed a one-year deal with the track that includes the Handicap, two earlier races, as well as cross-promotions, TV advertising and other benefits, said Santa Anita marketing director Allen Gutterman. Financial terms weren't disclosed but Gutterman said San Manuel is now the track's largest sponsor.

The partnership stands out because the two competing industries have fought, sometimes bitterly, for a decade. Over that time, the state's horse-racing fortunes have plummeted while tribal gaming has grown into a $7 billion enterprise.

Their battle picks up again this month as five of the state's wealthiest tribes -- including the San Manuel Band of Mission Indians -- push for new state gaming compacts that would allow them to add 22,500 slot machines between them.

Horse-racing interests, led by the owner of Hollywood Park, plan to oppose the compacts, as they did last year. They will argue that by granting the tribes the exclusive right to operate slot machines, the state has severely damaged the tracks.

Santa Anita President Ron Charles hasn't revealed whether the track or its parent company, Canada's Magna Entertainment Corp., will join the opposition.

"There is a committee from the racing industry working to find an arrangement that will help horse racing in California and be beneficial to the tribes," he said in a statement. "Our marketing relationship with San Manuel is completely separate."

It's an awkward position for Santa Anita, and for the Del Mar Thoroughbred Club in San Diego County, which had a three-year marketing deal with the Barona Casino that ended in 2004 and now has an agreement with the Viejas Casino. But it won't stand in the way of business.

"We respect each other's political differences, but this is a business transaction," said Steve Lengel, executive director of operations for San Manuel. "We are both entertainment venues, and this makes great marketing sense to both of us."

Del Mar marketing director Josh Rubinstein said some people in the horse-racing industry asked him why the track would work with a competitor.

"The way we looked at it, the Indian casinos aren't going away, and the racetracks aren't going away. We weren't going to bury our head in the sand," Rubinstein said.

While San Manuel is the competition, both are in the gaming business, Santa Anita's Gutterman said. "They can introduce someone who plays slots to horseracing, or we can introduce ponies to someone who plays their games," he said.

It seems like a perfect fit to Jim Ahern, a professor at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo who specializes in horse racing and marketing.

"Del Mar and Santa Anita are making good decisions. It's a natural they might cooperate and develop coalitions. In the long run it makes the most sense," he said.

Terry Pierson / The Press-Enterprise

"This is a business transaction," a San Manuel executive says of the racetrack sponsorship.

Betting the ponies is no longer as popular as it once was.

Horse racing dropped from a 28 percent share of the U.S. gambling market in 1982 to a 5.2 percent share in 2000, the "victim of shifts in consumer preference," according to a 2006 gaming study by the California Attorney General's office.

While total dollars bet on horse racing has increased, most of it is now done via satellite or online wagering. In California, racetrack attendance declined 35 percent between 1990 and 2004. On-track betting decreased 59 percent, the study said.

Less money for the tracks meant smaller purses for the winners, which has driven horse owners and breeders to other states, where the cost of living is lower and the winnings can be hundreds of thousands, or even millions, of dollars higher.

The reason for the discrepancy is because 14 states have allowed horse tracks to add slot machines or other forms or video gaming as a way to boost revenue. In California, only American Indian tribes are allowed to operate slots machines.

In 2004, the state's horse tracks and card rooms sponsored a ballot proposal that would have allowed them to operate slots as well. The initiative was vehemently opposed by the powerful gaming tribes, however, and was defeated.

Since then, California horse-racing interests have tried to convince elected officials the industry will die unless it is allowed to find another revenue source.

"Since the state has bargained away our ability to respond to competition, they should consider a way to mitigate that," said Joe Lang, lobbyist for Bay Meadows Land Co., which owns Hollywood Park and Bay Meadows Racetrack in San Mateo.

The industry needs an extra $300 million a year to survive and compete with other states, he said. Half of that would go to higher purses for race winners, the other half primarily to track improvements and advertising that would draw customers.

Marketing deals like Santa Anita's aren't enough, he added. "They are good, but they don't get to the level of what we need to really save the industry," Lang said.

The $1.5 million Barona deal was the largest marketing agreement in Del Mar's history, and included race sponsorship and radio and TV advertising.

The question is what form that would take. The tracks would still like to be able to offer some other form of gaming. If not, they want the money to come from tribal-casino profits, Lang said. The parties have been discussing options for months.

But the tribes will continue to resist more forms of gaming at the tracks.

"It has always been our position that expanded gaming in the state was rightfully addressed by the voting public," said San Manuel Band spokesman Jacob Coin.

Tribal gaming is intended to help tribal governments raise money for public improvements and services -- similar to the state lottery, he said.

"For-profit gaming exists to maximize the wealth of its private owners," Coin added.

On Saturday, however, those differences will be put aside as Santa Anita and San Manuel host a big party for the track's premier event.

"It's a great partnership," Lengel said. "It should be a lot of fun."

Reach Jonathan Shikes at 951-368-9552 or jshikes@PE.com.

Compare 40-mile radius competition-free zone provided in Barstow Casino agreements

Links to maps (compliments of Google Earth and MLive) with visual overlays representative of the 40-mile radius (80-mile wide) "COMPETITION-FREE Zone" negotiated by Detroit-based Barwest LLC that would surround Barstow as provided for in yet to be ratified gaming compacts for the Big Lagoon Rancheria and Los Coyotes Bands of Indians.

1. Twin circles: 40-mile radius around Barwest Casinos site and the Los Coyotes Indian Reservation. (static smaller pictures) Google Earth
   
2. Proposed 80-mile wide competition-free zone (5,044 square miles) around the Barwest Casinos site in Barstow, CA provided for in the Big Lagoon Rancheria and Los Coyotes Band of Indians pending gaming compacts. (static larger picture) Google Earth
   
3. A 40-mile radius circle around the Los Coyotes Reservation in northeast San Diego County representative of the competition-free zone in the Barstow compacts. There are approximately 20 casinos open or in development within 40-miles of the Los Coyotes Reservation -- they compete every day; the newest set to open in March less than 10 miles from the Los Coyotes Reservation -- still others are expanding or planning plans to open new casinos. (static larger picture) Google Earth
   
4. LATEST ! Link to MLive Search semi-interactive map of Southern California and Humblodt County casinos. (semi-interactive: street, satellite or hybrid maps) MLive. LATEST!
   
   This MLive "collection" of placemarkers can be saved to your own computer for future reference or mapping.

Blogger Rob writes: 'more competition isn't likely to faze' SoCal's established gaming tribes

Blogger Rob @ Newspaper Rock writes:

"In summary, state legislators who support tribal sovereignty have every reason to oppose the giveaway compacts. Gaming tribes such as Pechanga and San Manuel are adamant about preserving their hard-won sovereign rights. These tribes already face substantial competition in their region, so more competition isn't likely to faze them...

"And if gaming tribes 'control' the Legislature, why can't they pass the laws they want enacted?"

Eastern casino syndicator fears competition & seeks protections; not tribes

If SoCal Tribes feared competition, they would be endorsing plans to move Los Coyotes’ Casino to Barstow

If fear of competition was the primary motivator, Southern California’s established gaming tribes would be endorsing plans to relocate two tribes and their casinos to Barstow, in the middle of the Mohave Desert but they aren't.

Spokesmen and lobbyists for Detroit-based casino syndicators say established gaming tribes in Southern California oppose their plan to build and manage dual Indian Casinos in Barstow simply because the established tribes are afraid of competition.

However, a look at a map suggests if “fear of competition” was motivating the established gaming tribes, those tribes would be endorsing any plans that might move a Los Coyotes casino to Barstow; and out of the San Diego/Riverside County area.

There are seven casinos located along the Hwy 76 corridor primarily in northern San Diego County and including the Pechanga Casino in Riverside County. Those casinos are within 30 miles of the Los Coyotes Reservation with the closest being less than 10 miles away. And most of those seven casinos are within 5 miles of one or two other casinos. If fear of competition was the primary motivator for the established tribes, casinos at Pechanga, Pala and Harrah’s Rincon among others would be endorsing a plan to re-locate the Los Coyotes' casino outside their territory, but they are not.

More likely, it’s Barwest’s fear of competition that resulted in abandoning any plans the tribe might have had for a casino on their San Diego County reservation. Barwest would have to compete with those seven casino and a dozen more.

In Barstow, the Detroit casino syndicators are virtually guaranteed there won’t be another casino within 50 miles (or an hours drive) of their dual casinos mega resort.

At home in Detroit, the people behind Barwest bankrolled a 1996 statewide ballot measure that voters narrowly approved, which ensured they would be given preferences in a competition to see who would build and own one of three commercial Las Vegas-style casinos in Detroit. As soon as they had things up and running, they helped bankroll another ballot measure to protect their casinos by virtually prohibiting any new competition from entering into the Michigan marketplace without statewide voter approval; casinos, racetracks, lotteries or otherwise.

Governor Schwarzenegger's negotiators confirmed last March (2006) that it was Barwest's interests and not the state who pushed for the unprecedented 5,044 square mile competition-free zone around a future Barwest casinos mega resort included in the Barstow gaming agreements the Governor negotiated in 2005..

San Diego Casino set to open $114 million expansion

Note: The Valley View Casino is located 30 minutes from the Los Coyotes Indian Reservation, with two other tribal casinos located along the route in between.

02.14.07

Casino's expansion to open April 13

SAN PASQUAL INDIAN RESERVATION -- The first phase of Valley View Casino's $114 million expansion is scheduled to open to the public April 13, officials announced Tuesday.

The casino is owned by the San Pasqual Band of Mission Indians. The expansion includes 62,000 square feet of casino space that will accommodate a lounge, a bar, a snack cart and a remodeled entrance. It will also add a larger buffet restaurant, more slot machines and more table games.

"The opening of our first phase of growth and our subsequent grand opening in November is an amazing achievement for the San Pasqual Tribe and Valley View Casino," said Joe Navarro, president of the San Pasqual Casino Development Group Inc.

The opening dates of a steakhouse and lounge will be announced soon. The rest of the expansion, including a 24-hour cafe, an ice cream shop, event center and cabaret bar is set to open later this fall.

http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2007/02/15/news/inland/escondido/21_40_292_14_07.txt

Max Shapiro: The History of the Barstow Card Casino - Sent Using Google Toolbar

Max Shapiro: The History of the Barstow Card Casino

The History of the Barstow Card Casino By Max Shapiro >From time to time, I get irate e-mails from people who have stopped by Big Denny's Barstow Card Casino out of curiosity after reading my column, only to discover that the experience was as frightening as it was costly. My standard response is that I am just an objective reporter, so please don't blame me. Recently, however, I got a message that wasn't as easy to slough off. It was from Phil Hellmuth. He bitterly complained about being cheated in a $20 crazy pineapple tournament there. Time after time, he said, he flopped nut-nut, only to have his low counterfeited on the turn, and then his high outdrawn on the river. Furthermore, after making three rebuys, he had to use the ATM machine, and was shocked to be hit with a $50 "courtesy" charge. He said he blamed me for publicizing the casino, was planning to sue to get his money back, and wanted me to provide as much information as I could about the background and history of Big Denny and the Barstow Card Casino. This wasn't too easy, because Big Denny isn't exactly noted for being either forthcoming or reliable, but after doing a lot of research, here's what I came up with. Let's start with the town of Barstow, a quiet little community of some 23,000 souls located off southern California's highway I-15. A few thousand years ago, geologists tell us, the area was covered by massive lakes, a fact that came to light with the unearthing of ancient marinas, outboard motors, and the remains of Indians in bathing suits. It's now the Mojave desert, and the only water to be found is in bottles. The area experienced something of a boom in the 1800s with the discovery of silver and later, borax, but eventually the mines played out. It regained some notice during the Great Depression as a railroad terminal and the jumping-off place for destitute dust bowl farmers migrating to California and looking for work, as dramatized in John Steinbeck's classic novel, "The Grapes of Wrath." Today Barstow's main claim to fame is that it lies halfway between Los Angeles and Las Vegas and has become a handy site for destitute tourists returning from Sin City and looking for a railroad bridge to jump off. For years there was nothing much to do in Barstow. It's located near the Calico Ghost Town, and all its annual celebrations seem to be based on that fact. In February there's the Calico Ghost Town Civil War reenactments. In May we have the Calico Ghost Town Spring Festival and Chili Cook-off. In October, Barstow has the Calico Ghost Town Ghost Haunt. And in December, there's the Calico Ghost Town Heritage Fest. After a while, even the ghosts began getting bored. Then came the Barstow Card Casino, but that wasn't exactly an earth-shaking event either. It was originally called Farley's Feed Lot, a shabby, rundown barn where farmers could buy feed and board their cows. It soon became a hangout for rustics looking to get away from their wives for a while and play a little red dog. As travelers looking for action heard about the place, Farley began putting in poker tables and moved the boarding cows into the overhead hayloft. Thus was born the Barstow Card Casino, a small but comfortable gaming establishment where patrons could get a fair shake, so long as they didn't mind the smell of cow manure and the occasional straws drifting down on their heads from the overhead hayloft. Enter Big Denny, a thuggish ape and star graduate of various reform schools who had been gainfully employed as a "collection agent" for mob extortionists. "Pay up or Big Denny will sit on your head" became the most dreaded phrase in the business. Denny ended up serving a prison term when he sat on one head too many, splattering on the floor the brains of an uncooperative gentleman who had fallen a bit behind in his payments. But he managed to get his sentence commuted by turning informant on his mob bosses and entering the witness protection program. Figuring that Barstow would be the last place anyone would look for someone like Big Denny, the feds relocated him there, getting him a job as a security guard at the casino. Law enforcement was not a very good fit for the big guy. Barstow, a peaceful town where crime had been virtually nonexistent, suddenly began experiencing a rash of break-ins at the casino parking lot, along with an occasional mugging. It wasn't hard for Farley to put two and two together. Never happy with being forced to hire Big Denny in the first place, he now informed him that he was out of a job. "I got a better idea," Big Denny replied. "How's about ya just turn da joint over ta me?" Farley's laughter abruptly ended when he found himself pinned to the floor under Big Denny's rump. A document transferring ownership was then drawn up and hastily signed by Farley, followed by Big Denny's "X." No one ever saw the former owner after that. Denny told everyone that Farley had decided to retire and relocate in Florida. The conventional wisdom around Barstow, however, is that Farley had been relocated in a hole in the ground in the desert somewhere off I-15. Now in control, Big Denny immediately embarked on an "upgrade" for the Barstow Card Casino. He fired all the dealers and brought in a crew of ex-cons whom he had met in prison. They were taught how to deal seconds to confederates, and then put on commission, getting a percentage of everything they could snatch out of pots. An illegal dice table was installed in the back room and stocked with loaded dice. Patrons entering the parking lot were "encouraged" to valet park for usurious fees to prevent their tires from being slashed. In return for pay-offs, Big Denny gave cheating teams free rein in tournaments and side games. Chip runners not only shortchanged patrons, but also sidelined as loan sharks. Today the casino is regularly raided by the Barstow Police Department, but Denny's place in the witness protection program earns him a certain amount of immunity. And, of course, patrons who complain too vigorously seem to have a habit of suddenly disappearing. Well, Phil, I hope this information is helpful. There are even worse details I could provide, but I don't want to push my luck. And if I were you, I'd think twice before taking Big Denny to court. You might not live long enough to win your 11th bracelet.

ARCHIVE of Max Shapiro's Barstow Card Casino Features