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SACRAMENTO (AP) - California's American Indian tribes have contributed $543 million to state and local funds to mitigate the effects of their rapidly expanding gambling industry, but the social costs of all types of gambling are much higher, according to a state report re leased Wednesday.
The tribes' payments were equivalent to around 9 percent of four years' worth of revenues at the 56 casinos the tribes operated in 2004, said the 176-page report, "Gambling in the Golden State: 1998 forward." The report, compiled by the California Research Bureau, said revenue at California's tribal casinos from 2001 to 2004 was an estimated $17 billion.
Combined revenue from all forms of gambling in California was $13 billion in 2004.
Nearly all the money paid by the tribes was directed to two funds intended to mitigate the effects of tribal gambling. One fund distributes $1.1 million a year to tribes that do not have casinos. Another fund doles out money to local governments to offset increased costs created by gambling such as security and social problems.
Anthony Miranda, chairman of the California Nations Indian Gambling Association, said the tribes make valuable contributions to the communities where they operate. For instance, he said in Riverside County, home to nine Indian casinos, local communities have added more sheriff's deputies, and San Diego County was able to buy a firefighting helicopter with tribal payments.
"Do I believe that tribes need to mitigate their impact? Wholeheartedly, yes. Do tribes need to mitigate them hundreds of times over? That might be an issue," Miranda said. "Tribes add to the communities that they're in."
The casinos have had mixed effects since California voters authorized the governor to negotiate gambling compacts with Indian tribes in 2000, the report said.
"The tribes' casino and retail operations provide economic and employment benefits to the surrounding communities in rural areas, where most casinos are located. They have created tens of thousands of jobs, 90 percent of which are held by non-Indians," the report said. "The economic effect in urban areas is much different and potentially negative due to displacement of existing retail operations."
Violent crime and gambling addiction also rise after casinos are established, Wednesday's report said.
"This report confirms our greatest fears about urban casinos," said Andres Soto, a member of a San Francisco-based group, Communities United to Stop Urban Casinos, which has lobbied against proposed casinos in the East Bay area. "A casino that opens in the middle of our neighborhoods burdens the local community with multiple problems ranging from increases in crime to major traffic congestion."
Then-Gov. Gray Davis signed the first 20-year compacts with 58 tribes in 1999, giving them a monopoly on slot machines and house-banked card games. Tribes subsequently reached expanded deals with Davis and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger that require greater revenue sharing with the state and stronger environmental, labor and building safety provisions. Tribes also are required to reach deals with local governments.
So far, American Indian tribes have contributed $20 million to the state general fund under the expanded compacts, besides the money they contributed to the state's special gambling funds.
But the report said problem and pathological gamblers cost the state just under $1 billion a year. It said there are around 1.5 million such gamblers in the state, nearly 600,000 of them youths, but California has no state-funded program to treat them.
"Casino gambling generates 82.5 percent of all problem gambling help line calls to the California Council on Problem Gambling. Over three quarters of the callers give California Indian casinos as their primary gambling preference," the report said.
Expanded Indian gambling has also hit nonprofits hard, cutting into the limited revenue they're able to earn through bingo games and raffles. California law prohibits charities from offering poker tournaments or casino-style gambling.
Wednesday's report also found:
-- Tribal casino revenues climbed to $5.78 billion in 2004, from $3.67 billion in 2002.
-- About nine percent of all American Indians living in California are members of tribes with gaming compacts, meaning gross gaming revenues of about $188,000 per member in 2004.
-- Sixty-six of the state's 108 federally recognized tribes have compacts with the state to operate gambling facilities; 61 of the tribes actually operate such facilities.
State Attorney General Bill Lockyer, who released the report Wednesday, said it would help officials deal with the dramatic expansion of gambling, which presents "significant challenges for the public, policymakers and regulators as we seek to successfully address the many issues associated with the integration of gambling into the state's social and economic life."
Read the report at: www.library.ca.gov/HTML/statseg2a.cfm
The tribes' payments were equivalent to around 9 percent of four years' worth of revenues at the 56 casinos the tribes operated in 2004, said the 176-page report, "Gambling in the Golden State: 1998 forward." The report, compiled by the California Research Bureau, said revenue at California's tribal casinos from 2001 to 2004 was an estimated $17 billion.
Combined revenue from all forms of gambling in California was $13 billion in 2004.
Nearly all the money paid by the tribes was directed to two funds intended to mitigate the effects of tribal gambling. One fund distributes $1.1 million a year to tribes that do not have casinos. Another fund doles out money to local governments to offset increased costs created by gambling such as security and social problems.
Anthony Miranda, chairman of the California Nations Indian Gambling Association, said the tribes make valuable contributions to the communities where they operate. For instance, he said in Riverside County, home to nine Indian casinos, local communities have added more sheriff's deputies, and San Diego County was able to buy a firefighting helicopter with tribal payments.
"Do I believe that tribes need to mitigate their impact? Wholeheartedly, yes. Do tribes need to mitigate them hundreds of times over? That might be an issue," Miranda said. "Tribes add to the communities that they're in."
The casinos have had mixed effects since California voters authorized the governor to negotiate gambling compacts with Indian tribes in 2000, the report said.
"The tribes' casino and retail operations provide economic and employment benefits to the surrounding communities in rural areas, where most casinos are located. They have created tens of thousands of jobs, 90 percent of which are held by non-Indians," the report said. "The economic effect in urban areas is much different and potentially negative due to displacement of existing retail operations."
Violent crime and gambling addiction also rise after casinos are established, Wednesday's report said.
"This report confirms our greatest fears about urban casinos," said Andres Soto, a member of a San Francisco-based group, Communities United to Stop Urban Casinos, which has lobbied against proposed casinos in the East Bay area. "A casino that opens in the middle of our neighborhoods burdens the local community with multiple problems ranging from increases in crime to major traffic congestion."
Then-Gov. Gray Davis signed the first 20-year compacts with 58 tribes in 1999, giving them a monopoly on slot machines and house-banked card games. Tribes subsequently reached expanded deals with Davis and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger that require greater revenue sharing with the state and stronger environmental, labor and building safety provisions. Tribes also are required to reach deals with local governments.
So far, American Indian tribes have contributed $20 million to the state general fund under the expanded compacts, besides the money they contributed to the state's special gambling funds.
But the report said problem and pathological gamblers cost the state just under $1 billion a year. It said there are around 1.5 million such gamblers in the state, nearly 600,000 of them youths, but California has no state-funded program to treat them.
"Casino gambling generates 82.5 percent of all problem gambling help line calls to the California Council on Problem Gambling. Over three quarters of the callers give California Indian casinos as their primary gambling preference," the report said.
Expanded Indian gambling has also hit nonprofits hard, cutting into the limited revenue they're able to earn through bingo games and raffles. California law prohibits charities from offering poker tournaments or casino-style gambling.
Wednesday's report also found:
-- Tribal casino revenues climbed to $5.78 billion in 2004, from $3.67 billion in 2002.
-- About nine percent of all American Indians living in California are members of tribes with gaming compacts, meaning gross gaming revenues of about $188,000 per member in 2004.
-- Sixty-six of the state's 108 federally recognized tribes have compacts with the state to operate gambling facilities; 61 of the tribes actually operate such facilities.
State Attorney General Bill Lockyer, who released the report Wednesday, said it would help officials deal with the dramatic expansion of gambling, which presents "significant challenges for the public, policymakers and regulators as we seek to successfully address the many issues associated with the integration of gambling into the state's social and economic life."
Read the report at: www.library.ca.gov/HTML/statseg2a.cfm
