California Slots Proposal Passes
With the help of Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, the four iniatitives on Tuesday's California ballot that allowed increased slot machine numbers passed. The Pechanga, Aqua Caliente, Sycuan, and Morongo tribes won the right to install 17,000 new slots.
The slot proposal passed by a 55% to 45% margin. Originally negotiated between the Governor and the tribes, the deal would not have required a vote, until a petition signed by over a million voters plaved the issue on the ballot. Opposition to the deal was led by competing tribes, race track owners, Las Vegas casino investors, and other special gambling interests.
The new slots, once installed in tribal casinos, will be heavily taxed, earning millions for the state. Although the tribes already have slot machines at their casinos, the existing machines pay nothing to the state.
The deal was the subject of over $100 million in advertising and campaigning expenses between the two sides. It looked as if the vote might be close, until Scharzenegger began an intensive push for the project in the last weeks.
California can now look to collecting impressive revenues from the tribal slots, as opposed to the empty cup it was taking from the current system.
