"California voters never approved building tribal casinos at whatever site might get the most business. Tribes should confine gambling operations to reservations, not search for more lucrative locations. The governor and Legislature should reject a San Diego County tribe's proposal to build a casino in the distant High Desert.

The Los Coyotes Band of Cahuilla and Cupeno Indians wants to build a casino in Barstow along Interstate 15. That site, however, is 160 miles away from the tribe's reservation, which sits about an hour southeast of Temecula. The proposal faces some substantial hurdles: The tribe has to get the federal government to approve the plan, and negotiate a state gambling compact that allows the Barstow facility. And the Legislature killed a similar bid in 2006, after the tribe had reached a deal with then-Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.

The pitch for an off-reservation casino is no better five years later, however, and deserves rejection once again. The tribe's interest in improving its welfare is understandable, but the state needs to find a better approach than letting casinos proliferate far away from any reservation.

The Barstow site has no historical connection to the Los Coyotes tribe. The only real rationale is that the property sits along the heavily traveled Southern California to Las Vegas route. The location is ideal for pulling in a lot of gamblers -- far more than anywhere on the tribe's remote San Diego County lands."

Get the Story:
Editorial: Casino rush? No (The Riverside Press-Enterprise 8/5)

Federal Register Notice:
Draft Environmental Impact Statement for the Proposed Los Coyotes Band of Cahuilla and Cupeno Indians' 23-Acre Fee-to-Trust Transfer and Casino-Hotel Project, City of Barstow, San Bernardino County, CA (July 1, 2011)

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BIA hosts public hearing on Los Coyotes off-reservation casino (7/28)
Los Coyotes Band lobbies governor on off-reservation casino plan (7/20)
BIA sets public hearing on Los Coyotes off-reservation casino (7/11)