Most of the California Indian casinos operated in a "gray" area until Prop 1-A passed 2 years ago. Their slot-like machines (without coin drops; tickets only) were defined as lottery-type machines. Some of the case law where Indians pushed the envelope is related to California Indian casinos. (The Cabazon decision, for instance.)

One tactic was to push the envelope with a small rural Indian casino, so if they were shut down, it wouldn't have as big an effect as if one of the large ones did it. Then, after an injunction and stalemate, all the others would jump in and expand into a new area. They pooled their legal defense funds, playing cat&mouse with various California Attorney Generals over the years.

The stand-offs with state troopers trying to block roads into the reservation, so trucks filled with slots machines can't enter, etc. are always "interesting". Properly regulated, it's a victimless crime at worst, and sometimes even good for the local economy, but the power struggele between sovereign Indian nations and state interests can be difficult to resolve.