"Note to Legislators: don't get snookered. Specifically, don't ratify ill-conceived deals with Indian gambling tribes just because the state is in the red and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is waving promises of big money for state coffers under your nose.

Instead, question the governor's numbers. He claims the five new compacts will generate an additional $506 million in the coming fiscal year. Don't believe it. Even his budget advisers concede that can happen only if the Legislature ratifies the compacts by a two-thirds vote by early May, which would allow them to go into effect immediately -- when and if the secretary of the interior approves them.

The governor's rosy estimate also assumes tribes will add 10,500 slots this year and that the slots will generate enough profit to produce the predicted revenues. That's a lot of ifs."

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Editorial: Don't ratify compacts (The Sacramento Bee 1/29)
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