SACRAMENTO, California – (PRESS RELEASE) -- The first state-wide study of
the social and economic impacts of tribal government gaming within California
will be released at a 1:30 p.m. press briefing January, 11 at the Western
Indian Gaming Conference in Palm Springs.
The nearly year-long study by the Center for California Native Nations at
the University of California Riverside was coordinated by Dr. Kate Spilde
Contreras, the Managing Director at the Center. Six faculty members from five
academic departments participated in the research project.
The study analyzed data in the 1990 and 2000 U.S. Censuses for a "before
and after" snapshot of conditions in California during Indian gaming's initial
growth phase. Indian gaming impacts since 2000, when California's principal
tribal-state compacts went into effect, were analyzed through surveys of
tribal and local governments and in-depth case studies of individual tribal
governments.
"This is truly ground-breaking research by respected and independent
scholars that will be helpful to tribal, local and state government as Indian
gaming continues to mature as a powerful economic force in California," said
Anthony Miranda, chair of the California Nations Indian Gaming Association
(CNIGA), sponsor of the conference.
Reporters wishing to attend the briefing in Smoke Room F of the Palm
Springs Convention Center should first register at the press counter at the
conference's Registration Center in the adjacent Wyndham Palm Springs Hotel,
888 Tahquitz Canyon Way.