June 16, 2005
State To Join Multi-State Lottery Despite Legal Opinion
San Francisco Chronicle
CALIFORNIA
State to begin Mega Millions despite legal opinion Legislative counsel says lottery panel exceeding authority
Paul Feist, Chronicle Sacramento Bureau
Thursday, June 16, 2005

Sacramento -- Lottery officials and retailers are gearing up to sell tickets for the high-jackpot Mega Millions game next week, despite a legal opinion that says California's participation in the multistate game is illegal.
In February, the state Lottery ..... More >>>

June 16, 2005
State To Join MegaMillions on June 22
LA Daily News
State to join Mega Millions Lottery on June 22
Opponents vow lawsuits
By Steve Geissinger
Sacramento Bureau

SACRAMENTO - Schwarzenegger administration officials said Wednesday that California will join a deficit-easing, multi-state Mega Millions lotto game in a week, even though they are on thin legal ground and probably face a court battle.
The California Coalition Against Legalized Gambling said it will likely file a lawsuit seeking a court injun ..... More >>>

June 16, 2005
Joining Multi-State Lottery Questioned
Los Angeles Times
LA Times
Joining Big Lottery Questioned
A legal opinion claims the law does not permit participation by California in Mega Millions, which offers larger jackpots.

By Nancy Vogel, Times Staff Writer

SACRAMENTO - Mega Millions - the 11-state game with bigger jackpots and steeper odds than California's SuperLotto Plus - will launch next week despite a new legal opinion concluding that the California Lottery lacks authority to join such a game, official ..... More >>>

June 15, 2005
California Multi-State Lottery May Be Illegal
LA Daily News
Counsel says lottery pool breaks rules
Mega Millions would share jackpot with 11 other states

By Steve Geissinger, Sacramento Bureau

SACRAMENTO -- California's much-heralded entrance into an 11-state lottery is illegal, the Legislative Counsel's Office said Tuesday, a blow that could derail the approaching debut of the popular game.
Lottery Director Chon Gutierrez was told by legal advisers when California joined Mega Millions that the move to revitalize the state ..... More >>>

March 5, 2005
Spring CAP Newsletter
Harvey Chinn, CAP Executive Director
Spring, 2005
Dear friends of CAP,

"Britons are drinking less beer these days . . . . U.K. beer consumption fell 11% to 3.4 pints a week in 2003, the latest figures available, from 3.8 pints in 1990."

This startling news appeared in a front-page article in the March 1, 2005, Wall Street Journal. The statistics came from the British Beer & Pub Association. Has British drinking dropped 11% in the past 13 years? My wife and I visited the U.K. in 198 ..... More >>>

February 9, 2005
Feeling Lucky, California Joins 11-State Mega Millions Lottery
Nancy Vogel, LA Times Staff Writer
SACRAMENTO - In pursuit of ever-bigger jackpots and higher ticket sales, the California Lottery Commission voted Tuesday to join Mega Millions, an 11-state game whose record prize was almost twice as big as that generated by the California lottery.

The move is expected to boost lottery sales by half a billion dollars a year, of which at least 34% must by law go to schools.

But consumers who play the new game instead of SuperLotto Plus - which will continue to exist - f ..... More >>>

February 9, 2005
Lotto officials like the odds with Mega Millions
Steve Geissinger, Sacramento Bureau
SACRAMENTO -- California Lottery officials voted Tuesday to link their languishing operation to the multistate Mega Millions, ensuring unprecedented lotto fever with the prospect of half-billion-dollar jackpots. By the end of this year, California players will be able to buy $1 tickets for the multistate Mega Millions drawings, which are held Tuesday and Friday nights. The state's Super Lotto drawings will continue on Wednesdays and Saturdays.

"We are excited to enter into ..... More >>>

February 9, 2005
Bigger jackpots -- but longer odds. California Lotto joins Mega Millions
Lynda Gledhill, SF Chronicle Sacramento Bureau
Sacramento -- Californians, it's time to start dreaming really big.

State lottery officials hope fanciful thoughts of quitting your job, taking that dream vacation to Tahiti and buying a Maserati will interest you in Mega Millions, a multistate lottery that promises to regularly bring jackpots of more than $100 million to California.

As soon as this summer, California will join 11 other states in the Mega Millions lottery. The new game will be in addition to the current ..... More >>>

February 9, 2005
State OK's Joining Mega Millions' Huge Lottery
Michael Gardner - COPLEY NEWS SERVICE
SACRAMENTO - Californians will soon have a chance to play the multistate lottery Mega Millions without crossing state lines or trusting friends to buy tickets for them when jackpots reach staggering levels.

The state Lottery Commission yesterday unanimously approved joining Mega Millions, which could routinely offer jackpots of more than $100 million.

Mega Millions, now played in 11 states, offered a $40 million bonanza last night. In contrast, California's ..... More >>>

February 5, 2005
Lottery Won't Save Schools
C.W. Nevius
They jammed the gym at Clayton Valley High School in Concord this week, more than 600 strong -- parents, students and teachers. They offered heartfelt testimonials, waved signs and lectured the Mount Diablo Unified School District board over cuts in music and language programs, librarians and raises for teachers.

The same thing is likely to come soon to a public school near you -- program cuts, teacher unrest and a general decline in the quality of education -- because th ..... More >>>

February 1, 2005
Competing Indian gaming initiatives were costly - $107 million
James P. Sweeney, COPLEY NEWS SERVICE

SACRAMENTO - Indian casinos, racetracks, card clubs, unions and Gov.
Arnold Schwarzenegger burned through more than $107 million last year in a
fight over rival gambling expansion measures, both of which were crushed at
the polls.

The lavish spending appeared to set a ..... More >>>

January 30, 2005
Casino's liquor bid faces huge resistance
Press Democrat

Alexander Valley residents are expected to pack their community hall
this week for the first public hearing on River Rock Casino's bid to
serve alcoholic drinks. The hearing, starting Tuesday and scheduled to
run four days at the Alexander Valley Community Hall on Highway 128, has
rek ..... More >>>

January 30, 2005
'Sovereign' to a point, tribes have their limits.
Josh Richman, STAFF WRITER Tri Valley Harold

Amid all the talk of casinos, people keep referring to tribes as
"sovereign nations." But what exactly this means is the subject of
constant debate.

While stumping for her tribe's controversial Casino San Pablo
development la ..... More >>>

January 27, 2005
California tribes face divisions on key issues
Indianz.Com

The leader of California's largest inter-tribal organization vowed on
Wednesday to mend the rift that has emerged among the state's tribes.

Anthony Miranda, chairman of the California Nation's Indian Gaming
Association (CNIGA), delivered his second State of the Tribal ..... More >>>

January 25, 2005
Feinstein bill would slow San Pablo casino
Tom Lochner, Contra Costa Times

A planned San Pablo casino would be bounced off the fast track under a
bill introduced Monday in the U.S. Senate by Sen. Dianne Feinstein.

The bill, submitted on the day the California Democrat announced her
plans to run for re-election in 2006, would subject the Lytton Band of
..... More >>>

January 21, 2005
Thoroughbred horse racing is on the run
Guy Kovner - The Press Democrat

California Thoroughbred horse racing, once hailed as the Sport of Kings,
is on the run from an increasingly powerful rival, the Indian casinos.

Tension between the two multibillion-dollar industries -- racetracks and
gambling halls -- is focused in Sacramento, where the Legislature has
..... More >>>

January 21, 2005
Feinstein to attempt to block big tribal casino in San Pablo
John M. Hubbell, S F Chronicle Sacramento Bureau

Sacramento -- Sen. Dianne Feinstein, amid a climate of growing congressional scrutiny into deals between states and casino-seeking Indian tribes, said Thursday that she will make a last-ditch effort to block a huge gaming hall in San Pablo from ever being built.

Feinstein will introduce a bill Monday that would essentially ..... More >>>

November 3, 2004
California rejects gambling expansion
California Coalition Against Gambling Expansion

SACRAMENTO -- California's decisive rejection of two wagering initiatives on November 2 demonstrates a seismic change in public opinion about gambling. The special interest groups that backed Propositions 68 and 70 promised too much, spent too much and advertised too much in their ill-fated attempts to expand their gambling enterprises. ..... More >>>

October 22, 2004
California tribes mull backup plan as Proposition 70 falters
CHRIS T. NGUYEN, Associated Press North County Times

LOS ANGELES -- With defeat looking likely for a ballot initiative that
would ease gambling restrictions on Indian casinos, tribes bankrolling
the measure are mulling a backup plan to negotiate with Gov. Arnold
Schwarzenegger for more slot machines in exchange for payments to the
..... More >>>

October 23, 2004
Schwarzenegger defiant in Indian casino fight
Dan Whitcomb

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, under
fire from American Indians for telling voters that tribes were "ripping
off" the state with their casinos, has refused to back down.

Schwarzenegger has invoked the "rip off" ..... More >>>

October 22, 2004
Gaming initiative funds top $100 million
Jake Henshaw, Desert Sun Sacramento Bureau

Initiatives
Proposition 68: Allows 16 racetracks and card clubs to operate up to
30,000 slot machines in return for paying local agencies a third of
their winnings, but only if any gambling tribes refuses to pay the state
25 percent of their winnings.
Proposition 70: ..... More >>>

October 17, 2004
Gaming measures' impacts broader than 'fair share'
James P. Sweeney, COPLEY NEWS SERVICE

SACRAMENTO - Television spots peddling Propositions 68 and 70 suggest
the rival gambling measures would settle the debate over what
constitutes a "fair share" - the amount some believe American Indian
tribes should pay for their gambling monopoly in California.

Both initiatives would ..... More >>>

October 17, 2004
2 Gambling Measures Draw Big Spenders
San Jose Mercury News

SACRAMENTO - Two rival measures on the November ballot, Propositions 68
and 70, could dramatically reshape gambling in California and affect the
governor's ability to extract more money from Indian tribes.

With gambling estimated to be a $4 billion to $6 billion industry in
California already, ..... More >>>

October 06, 2004
Prop. 68 backers to end campaign - Chairman cites much confusion
DAVID M. DRUCKER, STAFF WRITER

SACRAMENTO - One day into Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's campaign to
defeat two propositions that would greatly expand gambling in
California, one of them - Proposition 68 - shut down Wednesday, calling
the governor's opposition key to its decision.

"I think it was a heavy influence, ..... More >>>

September 30, 2004
Gaming initiative spending could top $100 million
Guy Kovner THE PRESS DEMOCRAT

Spending on two competing statewide gaming initiatives could top $100
million this year as California Indian tribes are once again squaring
off against their competition, as well as a popular governor.

The tribes, which spent nearly $100 million to win two previous ballot
measures by more than ..... More >>>

Fall 2004
Time for Action
Harvey N. Chinn EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR - CALCap

Dear friends of CAP,

Time for Action: On September 24, the Los Angeles Times revealed that “Few Californians Know of Gambling Initiatives. . . A majority of Californians has never heard of two competing gambling initiatives and nearly half said they would vote against both when informed ..... More >>>