Sacramento – In what may be a referendum on the future of Indian gambling in California, Propositions 94 to 97 ask whether four of the state's wealthiest tribes should be allowed to expand their gaming operations, perhaps dramatically, over the next 23 years. Underscoring the stakes involved, the heavyweight matchup already has burned through nearly USD 120 million, with more spending on the campaign to come before the Feb. 5 election.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said Wednesday he personally called U.S. Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne and asked him to give "some attention" to four Indian gambling compacts before the federal government reversed itself and finalized the agreements last month. The action has led to widespread speculation that one or more of the tribes might claim the deals to expand their casinos are valid, even if voters reject the compacts next month.

Sacramento – In June, on the day after the No. 2 man at the U.S. Department of the Interior was sentenced to prison for lying about his role in the Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal, Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne issued a new ethics policy for the agency. Kempthorne's guidelines vowed to make the troubled department “a model of an ethical workplace” with integrity as a “core value.”

The soothing commercials for Proposition 94-97 suggest their passage would offer a pain-free, USD 9 billion elixir for California's budget woes. These measures are neither pain-free nor an elixir. Passage of these propositions would allow four of the state's wealthiest tribes - Agua Caliente, Morongo, Pechanga, Sycuan - to dramatically expand their Southern California gambling operations by adding up to 17,000 Nevada-style slot machines.

According to a leading authority on gaming law, aboriginal tribes in California have been spending more money than ever before in the run up to a vote next month on whether to allow casino expansion. Professor Nelson Rose stated that voters will decide on new compacts that would see four of California’s tribes able to offer players up to 5,500 additional slot machines in return for sharing up to one-quarter of gaming revenues with the state.

Folsom, California — Most card rooms and casinos in Northern California offer live poker the old-fashioned way: with dealers doling out cards and players tossing chips into the center of a table. But here at the Folsom Lake Bowl Sports Bar and Casino, just outside Sacramento, the action is entirely different — no cards, no chips and no dealers whatsoever. Instead, players gather around poker tables outfitted with game control software and computer touch screens that display virtual cards and chips representing money.

Arnold Schwarzenegger recently joined a group of residents and the county in criticizing an environmental report produced by the Pauma Band of Mission Indians on a planned USD 300 million casino and hotel. An attorney for the governor said in a letter dated September 21 that the tribe’s report is incomplete and not supported by sufficient analysis or evidence. The letter said that the tribe has not adequately addressed the project’s effects on water usage, community aesthetics or police and fire services.

Opponents of a nearly 30 percent expansion of tribal gambling began turning in petition signatures Friday for what could prove to be latest ballot fight over Indian casinos in California. A group opposing deals between four wealthy Southern California tribes and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said it has collected enough signatures to let voters decide if the agreements should be revoked. It said the rest of the signatures will be turned in by Monday to the secretary of state's office.

San Jacinto, California - A man suspected of masterminding the USD 1.5 million Soboba Indian Casino robbery was arrested over the weekend near Los Angeles International Airport, authorities said Monday. Rolando Luda Ramos, 25, was booked into the Southwest Detention Center Saturday on suspicion of strong armed robbery, false imprisonment, battery with injury and kidnapping. According to the Riverside County Sheriff's Department, Ramos was picked up at a hotel near LAX at 3 a.m. Saturday.

A petition drive in California that could result in the creation of a State-owned online poker site is gaining support from existing gambling communities and independent experts. Last Monday, the local Secretary of State’s office announced that it had given online poker player Anthony “Tuff Fish” Sandstrom of San Diego approval to circulate a petition that, if it received 430,000 signatures by Christmas, would see an initiative placed on the ballot asking voters whether they would like to see a State-operated online poker room created.

Sacramento - A coalition of labor and horse racing interests announced Friday that it will ask voters to pull the plug on a huge tribal gambling expansion negotiated by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. The owner of two racetracks and the hotel workers' union will team up on a campaign that could put four new initiatives on the February ballot and cost tens of millions of dollars. Some tribes with casinos that are not part of the expansion said they might join the effort.

The Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians and the Morongo Band of Mission Indians along with two other tribes reached the end of a campaign to expand their tribal casinos when the governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed bills ratifying revised gambling agreements. The four bills signed by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger will allow the Agua Caliente and Morongo tribes alone to add up to 8,500 new slot machines.