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California Legislature approves huge expansion of Indian gambling

The Legislature removed a key hurdle to passing a state budget Thursday, agreeing to allow four Indian tribes to expand casino gambling in exchange for hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue to the state.

The action ended what had been a lengthy legislative logjam that pitted two special interest titans: labor groups vs. casino-operating Indian tribes. The tribes won.

Labor leaders said they opposed the deals because they did not contain enforceable provisions to protect casino employees or give unions the right to organize.

"This is a very serious abandonment of 100,000 workers in the state," said Art Pulaski, executive secretary-treasurer of the California Labor Federation, AFL-CIO.

The compacts will allow four Southern California gambling tribes to add 17,000 slot machines to their casinos, a 30 percent increase in the number of slots currently operating in the state.

Full A.P. article, SF Chronicle, June 28, 2007

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