TEMECULA, California – As reported by the Associate Press: "Representatives from about 90 tribes, mostly from California, discussed strategy for gambling negotiations at the Eighth Annual Western Indian Gaming Conference.
"`We have a huge fight ahead for our industry,' David Quintana, legislative director for the California Nations Indian Gaming Association, told some of the approximately 500 attendees Wednesday.
"…Much of the discussion focused on upcoming talks to renegotiate the 3-year-old tribal-state agreements, known as compacts, that govern California's 50 Nevada-style Indian casinos.
"Gov. Gray Davis has said he expects tribes to agree during the talks to contribute $1.5 billion to help close the state's estimated $34.6 billion budget deficit.
"That proposal, which tribal members said was sprung on them without notice earlier this month when Davis unveiled his budget proposal, has angered Indian officials. Some also believe it's unrealistic.
"…The tribes want to eliminate the 2,000-per-tribe cap on slot machines, which can generate as much as 95 percent of a casino's revenue. They also would like tribes to be guaranteed the exclusive right to operate slot machines in the state, and they want tribal payments to the funds, now calculated according to complicated formulae, to be clarified…"