Pala Band gives $2.5 million to overturn other tribes' gambling deals
The Pala Band of Mission Indians has contributed another $2.5 million to the campaign to overturn four other tribes’ gambling agreements with the state, bringing to $5 million what the northern San Diego County tribe has given this week, according to the secretary of state’s Web site.
Voters will decide Feb. 5 whether to uphold renegotiated gambling compacts between the state and the Morongo Band of Mission Indians near Banning, the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians in the Coachella Valley, the Pechanga Band of Luiseno Indians near Temecula, and the Sycuan Band of Kumeyaay Indians in San Diego County.
The Pala band’s donations underscore the fast-shifting dynamics of the compact battle, where the opposition until now largely has been bankrolled by a pair of horse-racing tracks.
The Pala and another tribe that signed renegotiated compacts in 2004 have criticized the latest deals as unfair because they contain a different formula for calculating payments to the state.
—Jim Miller
Jmiller@PE.com