Bankrolled by Nevada-based Anchor Gaming, the nation's second largest slot machine firm, and San Diego investor Jerry Turk, the Pala Casino is the largest of four casinos to be built in the area so far. According to Turk, who also served as the developer and will manage the facility, the casino is designed to give visitors a Vegas experience. It features 2,000 slots, 46 card tables, six restaurants, two entertainment lounges and an entertainment center that can seat up to 2,000 people for boxing matches, concerts, banquets and other events.
Pala tribal chairman Robert Smith estimates that the gaming complex will generate $30 million to $40 million in profits for the 870-member tribe annually, which he says will be used for health care, scholarships and social programs, as well as to build recreational facilities on the reservation. It also is providing about 900 jobs.
However, a new law passed by voters in March mandates that a portion of the casino's gaming revenue go to tribes without gambling facilities, and the state will get its 13% split.
The Pala Band of Mission Indians was the first and only tribe to negotiate a compact with then Governor Pete Wilson in 1997. That agreement, which significantly limited gaming activities, prompted the 1998 ballot measure, Proposition 1A, that easily won voter approval. When Governor Gray Davis took office in January 1999, he negotiated more liberal contracts with tribes than Wilson would agree to sign.
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