The North County tribe that owns the Valley View Casino in Valley Center filed a lawsuit against the state on Tuesday seeking $115 million in profits it claims were lost due to the governor's refusal to grant the tribe all the slot machine licenses to which the tribe was entitled.

Last year, the San Pasqual Band of Mission Indians received authority from the state to add more slot machines to its casino after a federal judge ruled in favor of the tribes, who argued in court that the governor was illegally withholding licenses for the machines.

Valley View Casino now has 2,000 slot machines, the maximum number it is allowed under its gambling agreement with the state.

In its lawsuit, filed Tuesday in Los Angeles Superior Court, the San Pasqual tribe contends the state breached its 1999 contract and illegally interfered with the tribe's ability to provide slot machine play for its patrons.

By refusing to issue the slot machines licenses, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger eliminated a badly needed source of income for counties and cities that would have generated up to $30 million per year in tough economic times, tribal officials said.

Under the 1999 state and tribal gambling agreements, a fund was created to help local governments affected by Indian casinos.

"We are just asking for what was established to be ours according to the language of the 1999 compact, but it benefits everyone," said Allen Lawson, chairman of the San Pasqual tribe.

The Rincon Band of Mission Indians, which also has a casino in Valley Center, and the San Pasqual tribe had been fighting the state in court for years. But the governor had said that there were no more machines available based on his interpretation of the 1999 gambling agreements, which set a statewide cap on the number of machines.

In a separate case, U.S. District Court Judge Frank Damrell ruled in August in favor of a Northern California tribe, saying the state's interpretation of the agreements, or compacts, was wrong.

In his ruling, the judge ordered the state to make available an additional 10,549 slot machine licenses.

The San Pasqual tribe said it added about 400 slot machines in November to its existing 1,600 machines.