Card rooms sue over tribal gaming plan

Businesses say it is unfair to allow the Lytton Band of Pomo Indians to have exclusive rights to have slot machines and blackjack

By Curtis L. Esquibel
TIMES STAFF WRITER

SACRAMENTO -- A coalition of Bay Area card rooms and two charities filed suit in federal court Wednesday to block the expansion of gaming at Casino San Pablo and to overturn state gambling agreements that permit slots and blackjack on American Indian lands.

The suit, filed in Federal District Court in Sacramento, accuses the U.S. Department of the Interior, Gov. Gray Davis and state Attorney General Bill Lockyer, among others, of violating equal protection laws by giving tribes the exclusive right to run Nevada-style games.

It seeks to overturn current gaming agreements between California and Indian tribes and to block any future agreements.

The lawsuit was filed by four Bay Area card rooms: Artichoke Joe's in San Bruno; Lucky Chances in Colma; Oaks Club Room in Emeryville; and California Grand Casino in Pacheco. They were joined by the Fairfield Youth Foundation and Sacramento Consolidated Charities, both of which raise money through bingo games.

The Lytton Band of Pomo Indians, a Santa Rosa-based tribe, was given federal approval in December to acquire the 10-acre San Pablo card room, raising the possibility of expanded gaming in an urban center.

Bay Area card rooms have opposed the expansion, saying it would devastate their businesses.

"San Pablo is really the trigger for this lawsuit," said David Fried, a San Francisco attorney representing two of the card rooms. "You can't carve out one form of economic activity and give it to one group and say you're the only one allowed to do this."

Card rooms in California are prohibited from operating slot machines or having players bet against the house. But Indian tribes won that right last March when voters approved Prop. 1A, which permits those types of games on tribal lands with the governor's approval.

Doug Elmets, a spokesman for the Lytton Band, said the suit was filed by a "renegade group of card clubs.

"They are not representative of the industry in California. They are trying to achieve in a court of law what they failed to achieve in the court of public opinion and the legislature and the marketplace."

But the lawsuit alleges that Congress never intended to give tribes special treatment over matters that were not related to uniquely Indian interests, only for issues such as preservation of tribal hunting rights.

"If Congress may confer on Indian Tribes a monopoly on a nontraditional, nongovernmental activity such as ... casino gambling, Congress could also confer on Indian tribes a monopoly for activities that do not implicate uniquely Indian interests, such as Ford dealerships, professional football franchises, wineries, amusement parks, biotech laboratories, or operation of the space shuttle," the lawsuit says.

Lytton attorney Tony Cohen said the card rooms don't understand that tribes are sovereign nations, different from other ethnic minorities.

"A tribe is a government recognized by the U.S. For card clubs to say a tribe can't operate slots unless card clubs can is the same as them saying that state of California can't operate the lottery unless card clubs can, too," he said.

The suit also takes aim at the legislation that ordered the secretary of the interior to put Casino San Pablo into trust for the Lytton Band.

U.S. Rep. George Miller, D-Martinez, added a last-minute provision to the Omnibus Indian Advancement Act, a massive federal bill that dealt with a variety of Indian issues.

According to the lawsuit, Miller's amendment exempted the Lyttons from having to go through a public hearing to expand gaming at the casino. It also narrowed the legal grounds for court challenges.

The lawsuit calls the provision "stealth legislation," and said it violated federal laws governing Indian gaming.

Miller said in December he supported the Lyttons' plan because of its backing from San Pablo officials, a labor union and because the landless tribe deserved to have land restored to them.

Miller did nothing wrong by adding the 11th hour provision, his spokesman said Wednesday night.

"He used the legislative process to help his constituents," said spokesman Danny Weiss. "There's nothing unusual or improper about that."

If the card room lawsuit fails, the Lytton Band still needs approval from the governor to transform the San Pablo card room into a casino featuring more than 1,000 slot machines, blackjack and poker.

Davis, who has said he opposes gambling expansion into urban areas, already approved more than 60 gambling agreements, or compacts, with rural California tribes last year.

San Pablo officials had not yet seen the lawsuit and declined to comment on it.

Under the terms the city reached with the Lytton Band several years ago, the tribe will pay the city $1.5 million per year for municipal services. The city also will receive 5.4 percent of gross receipts from the casino. All told, the deal could bring the city $5 million annually if Davis approves a compact.

LINK: http://www.contracostatimes.com/news/california/stories/cardsuit_20010208.htm