California Assembly And Indian Tribes Robbing Charities With New Gambling Bill

Charities rely heavily on gambling to make their money. Electronic bingo machines have been the game of choice for many of these charities. They allow people to play the machines, and then give out prizes instead of cash.

They will now have to turn elsewhere to raise money in the state of California. While Governor Schwarzenegger has been expanding casino gambling rapidly in the state, the California Assembly has been busy guarding the interests of their state's Indian casinos.

Several tribe's have been trying to get the electronic bingo machines that look like real slot machines banned in the state. they feared that the machines were cutting into their profits.

The machines are used mostly for charitable functions, but almost inexplicably, the California Assembly voted in favor of banning the machines last week. The ban passed by a 56-3 vote.

The Bill will now be sent to the Senate for consideration. If approved by the Senate, the Bill would ensure the state millions of dollars that the Indian tribes claim the machines were taking from the state.

Charities, on the other hand, will be left out in the cold by not being allowed to use the electronic bingo machines. The state has put in a stipulation that some non-profit organizations could use remote-caller bingo to raise money.

The basis of the new Bill is greed. The charities that need the money will be denied the use of the machines to ensure that the Indian tribes and the state maintain their maximum revenue capabilities.

School groups and senior citizen organizations should have seen this coming when they were putting money from the machines to good use. Why let the money go to a good cause, when there are tribal leaders that can get richer.

September 2, 2008
Posted By Tom Jones
Staff Editor, CasinoGamblingWeb.com
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