Sacramento, CA – Stand Up for California! announced that a series of town halls will take place throughout California as communities seek to voice their strong opposition to proposed off-reservation casinos. The first town hall took place this past weekend in Joshua Tree, CA.

Recently, the U.S. Department of Interior published its approval of two off-reservation gaming facilitiesproposals in California despite the fact that the tribes making the proposals already have existing tribal lands on which to build casinos. The tribes are instead looking to build casinos in urban areas and along highways where they have no modern, historical, or aboriginal nexus.

This is a scheme commonly referred to as “reservation shopping,” and the ability to proceed with these off-reservation casinos now lies with Governor Jerry Brown, who can stop this scheme by “non-concurrence” with the Federal determination.

Local community groups are organizing the town halls in conjunction with Stand Up for California! and the Keep Indian Gaming on Indian Lands coalition to express theiropposition. The town halls will take place over the next few months throughout California, including the Central Valley, Bay Area, and Southern California. The next Town Hall is scheduled for Wheatland, CA on December 7^th.

Stand Up for California! is a statewide organization with a focus on gambling issues including tribal gaming, card clubs, horse racing,charitable gaming and the state lottery. For more information about the organization visit www.standupca.org.

The Keep IndianGaming on Indian Lands coalition is a group of local government, elected and community leaders, businesses, community organizations and individuals who are opposed to off-reservation gaming. For more information visit www.NoOffReservationCasino.com

Off-reservation casinos are strongly opposed by a vast majority of Californians. When California voterspassed Propositions 1A and 5, they agreed to do so with the assurance that Indian gaming would take place on traditional tribal lands. Approval of off-reservation projects sets a terrible precedent and will open the floodgates for off-reservation gaming statewide. Tribes across theState will be look to shop around for the most profitable locations to build casinos, no matter how far they are from their tribal lands or how tenuous the connection to their historical homelands.

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