[ Home ]

[ Slots News ]

Pala Opposes Pechanga Slots Agreement

The Pala Band of Mission Indians is joining the fight to overturn four signed gambling agreements, one of which was for the Penchanga Band of Mission Indians. The agreements increased the number of slot machines that each of the tribes was allowed to bring in, but Pala says that the slots agreements will end up coming back to haunt all of them.

Pala has contributed a half a million dollars toward a ballot initiative which would overturn the signed slots agreements, as they say that they are counterproductive to their survival and prosperity. The slots agreements allow the tribes to add a total of 22,500 slots to their existing 10,000. This means that the Penchanga’s could add 5,500 slots to the 2,000 that they currently have on their reservation.

However, the agreement allows for the state to get a portion of the slots revenue, and that is where the Pala has their problem. They say that the way the slots agreements are structured, they will pay an additional 15% of slots revenue for the first 3,000 that they add, and then 25% for the next 2,500. This discourages the tribes from adding more slots as they won’t want to pay the additional revenue.

Pala says that the slots agreements will come back to haunt them and make future negotiations that much harder for them. They have until October 8th to get the necessary 434,000 signatures to get the initiative on the ballot to overturn the slots agreements. The Penchanga’s say that they are deeply disappointed that they would try to oppose the slots agreements, especially since they respected the Pala’s slots agreements that they signed giving them unlimited slot machines back in 2004.

Back to August 2007 Archive.