SACRAMENTO – Seventy-two percent of voters oppose building off-reservation casinos, according to a new poll commissioned by a group of tribes that oppose plans for two such casinos in the Central Valley.
Keep Indian Gaming on Indian Lands, the group that commissioned the survey, includes the Pechanga Band of Luiseño Indians near Temecula.
J. Moore Methods Inc. of Sacramento conducted the poll of 800 voters Nov. 14 through Nov. 22. It had a margin of error of plus or minus 3.5 percentage points.
The poll is part of an effort to scuttle two off-reservation casino projects. The North Fork Rancheria of Mono Indians wants to build a 2,500-slot machine casino and hotel off Highway 99 in Madera. And the Enterprise Rancheria of Maidu Indians plans to build a casino in Yuba County.
The U.S. Department of the Interior signed off on the proposals in September. They now await consideration by Gov. Jerry Brown, who has one year to act.
Other off-reservation proposals are in the works. The Los Coyotes Band of Cahuilla and Cupeño Indians wants to build a casino in Barstow, 160 miles from its remote reservation an hour southeast of Temecula.
Six years ago, the tribe and the Big Lagoon Rancheria in Humboldt County negotiated a joint casino deal with the Schwarzenegger administration to build a Barstow casino. The Legislature never ratified the agreement, however, and it expired.