Tribes aim to thwart rivals’ expansion

UNITE HERE, the parent union of Culinary Workers Local 226, joined forces with a California racetrack's ownership to try to stop expansion plans by four of the state's American Indian casinos.

Their move is being fortified financially by a pair of unusual resources -- two Indian tribes with large casinos.

The Pala Band of Mission Indians, owners of the Pala Casino in San Diego, and the United Auburn Tribe, which owns the Station Casinos-operated Thunder Valley near Sacramento, are contributing $1 million to the effort.

The union and racetracks are collecting signatures to place a referendum on California's Feb. 5 primary ballot that would allow voters to overturn four revised Indian gaming compacts.

The agreements allow the tribes to place 17,000 additional slot machines in their casinos in exchange for payments to the state. The machine count could increase to 22,500 if a fifth compact is approved.

The parties need to collect some 434,000 signatures by Oct. 8.

Pala and United Auburn renegotiated their compacts with state in 2004 and aren't happy with the terms spelled out in the other tribe's agreements.

"It remains unclear as to whether they will be able to collect enough valid signatures or if there would be an appetite by voters in February to nullify the compacts," Deutsche Bank gaming analyst Bill Lerner said.

A spokesman for the tribes said the tribes were only participating in the effort to gather signatures.

The events have created strange bedfellows. Station Casinos, which has operated Thunder Valley since 2003, has had a contentious relationship with the Culinary, which has tried to organize the company's hotel workers in Las Vegas.

Steve Wynn says the neighborhood is improving. The chairman of Wynn Resorts Ltd. applauded developments surrounding Wynn Las Vegas and the under-construction Encore.

Wynn was effusive in his praise for Elad Group. The New York-based developer said it will build a $5 billion replica of the New York's Plaza Hotel in place of the New Frontier across from Wynn Las Vegas.

"(Elad executives) stay with us a lot. That way, they can look at their property," Wynn said. "The Frontier had become a mean-looking place. Nobody was going there any more."

Wynn also complimented Las Vegas Sands Corp. for bringing the upscale Barneys New York apparel store as the anchor for the 450,000-square-foot Shoppes at Palazzo.

"We're about to become a cross section of the fanciest neighborhood on the Strip," Wynn said.

The Inside Gaming column is compiled by Review-Journal gaming and tourism writers Howard Stutz, Benjamin Spillman and Arnold M. Knightly. Send your tips about the gaming and tourism industry to insidegaming@reviewjournal.com.