Tribe sues Schwarzenegger over slots

VALLEY CENTER, California -- As reported by San Diego 6: "The San Pasqual Band of Mission Indians filed a $550 million claim against the state Monday for lost profits resulting from the governor's refusal to allow certain casinos more licenses for slot machines.

"The claim -- a prerequisite to filing a lawsuit -- alleges Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is not allowing the California Gambling Control Commission to issue all of the slot machines licenses to which the San Pasqual tribe is entitled under its 1999 gambling compact with the state.

"According to federal court lawsuits currently pending in U.S. District courts in San Diego and Sacramento, the state compact provides for a total of 42,700 Class III licenses to be divided up among the Indian tribes.

"However, the state of California for many years has wrongly limited the number of licenses to 32,151, shorting the tribes out of a total of 10,549 licenses, and thus shorting the state, counties and cities as well as those tribes out of hundreds of millions of dollars, the claim alleges..."