Slot Machine Numbers Uncertain

There is some talk that perhaps Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has overestimated the amount of money that the state will get from the new slot machine compacts that he signed with the various tribes. The legislative analyst’s office is saying that even if all of the compacts were signed, there still wouldn’t be the amount of slot machine revenue coming in that the governor claims will be.

The governor signed five slot machine compacts last year, but they were not passed by the legislature as they left session before they could be discussed. The new compacts would allow for thousands of slot machines to come into the state, and thus bring in $506 million for this fiscal year. However, the new report "Questions and Answers: California Tribal Casinos" that has come out, says that those figures are closer to $200 million.

That figure, the report says, is only if all of the slot machine compacts were signed and approved as an urgency measure, which it does not seem to be. The LA says that the tribes would not have the ability to add the slot machines as quickly as the governor says they could. The report says that it will take up to four years for those amounts to come to pass.

The Department of Finance stands by their original numbers saying that even if the tribes don’t add the new slot machines right away, the government still gets $45 million each year from them. They say that the tribes are more prepared to add the additional slot machines than the LA is giving them credit for.

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