With two months remaining until the November election groups either for or against California’s Proposition 48 are starting to pour money into the campaign.
The proposition puts the issue of “reservation shopping,” and “off-reservation casinos” squarely into the electoral crosshairs, with voters given the chance to weigh on the issue of whether tribes are allowed to acquire land large distances from their traditional homelands and convert them into reservations for casinos.
Prop. 48 focuses on the compact California Governor Jerry Brown signed with the North Fork Mono Rancheria Indians and which the legislature approved. The Bureau of Indian Affairs had previously put the 305-acre site into trust. The land is 36 miles from the tribe’s North Fork headquarters. If voters approve of the proposition, the compact is approved and the casino in Madera will go forward.
The tribe of 1,987 members wants to build a casino resort with 2,000 slot machines.
The neighboring Table Mountain Rancheria has donated $1 million to defeat the compact. Brigade Capital Management, which is the financial partner of the Chukchansi Gold Resort & Casino, donated another $1.6 million.
Backers of the compact have raised more than $325,000 from Station Casinos, the tribe’s partner. The state Democratic Central Committee has donated nearly $4,000 for Prop. 48.
Opponents of Prop. 48 claim that the compact violates “the promise” of Prop. 1A, which Golden State voters approved in 2000, and which opened up the state to tribal gaming.
Some tribes that have resisted going after their own off-reservation casinos say they may reevaluate that position if Prop. 48 wins.
As such battles frequently are characterized, this one is being painted as a “David vs. Goliath” contest. As North Fork spokesman Charles Altekruse put it, “This is really about a small number of wealthy gaming tribes piling on a newcomer tribe because they don’t want the competition.”
After 10 years of trying to get permission to build a casino, the BIA approved the tribe’s request in 2011. Brown signed a compact with the tribe and the legislature approved it last year.
