Politicians Weighing in on Slot Machines

California lawmakers have their work cut out for them as they try to decide what to do with the slot machine compacts that Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed last year. If they are approved, they could double the number of slot machines currently allowed in the state, and anger the labor unions to the point where they will pull funding from their political campaigns. If they don’t approve them, they will alienate the tribes, and they will pull their funding from their political campaigns.

At the end of last year’s legislative session, the governor signed compacts with five different tribes that would increase the number of slot machines that they are allowed from 10,000 to 22,500. The tribes have agreed to give some of the revenue from the slot machines to the state, but the amount of slot machines that they would be bringing in would rival the biggest casinos in Las Vegas – eclipsing them in their sheer numbers of slots.

The problem is that the Democrats sit squarely in the middle of the mess. They are traditionally the benefactors of the unions and the tribe’s funds when it is time for campaign contributions. However, no matter how they vote this time around, they are going to anger one of those parties, and thus will have to lose part of their funding.

Senators that have already been the beneficiaries of the tribe’s campaign contributions are bound to help the bill pass the Senate, especially with Senators like Don Perata who has been the recipient of almost a million dollars in campaign finance from the tribes. There are many who are against the slot machine compacts simply because the compacts to not require that casino profits have an independent auditor. Others are concerned with the way the unionization of the casinos will be affected.

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