Shingle Springs Indian Casino project still a go

"It doesn't really impact our project at all," said Dick Moody, tribal chairman for the Shingle Springs Band of Miwok Indians. "It means a lot more to the actual gaming tribes than it does to us. We're not gaming at the present time. When we are ready to do so, we still have to go ahead and negotiate a compact with Gov. (Gray) Davis."

Plans call for a 325-room hotel with 100,000 square feet of casino floor space and six restaurants. The tribe hopes to have the project along U.S. 50, just east of Sacramento, completed by August 2000.

As it stands now, the Shingle Springs casino would include Class II gambling only - bingo, cards and paramutuel-type slot machines.

The Supreme Court's 6-1 decision overturning Prop. 5, which received 63 percent of the vote last year, prevents tribal casinos from running "Las Vegas-style" casino games without legislative or gubernatorial say-so. These types of games would include craps, roulette, keno and direct-payout slot and poker machines.

"Prop. 5 provided a guideline that the government had to follow with all the tribes," Moody said. "Now it's back to negotiating compacts on an individual basis, which is fine. I would prefer set guidelines, however."

"I hope this thing can get back on the ballot in March," he added. "If it takes a constitutional amendment, so be it."

Many Indian tribes are currently gathering signatures to put such an amendment on the March 2000 ballot - which would most likely be a replay of the contentious $91.3 million campaign last fall. That battle turned out to be mainly between several tribes and the Nevada casino industry.

But Gov. Davis' office is working on some sort of a compromise that might make an initiative unnecessary.

"We're going into this with our eyes open," Moody said. "A lot can happen in a year. By then we're hoping that this whole this is resolved."

Currently, 52 families live on the Shingle Springs Rancheria, and the tribe operates its own library, church, fire department, tribal center and community center. It is one of 67 tribes that have applied for gambling compacts with the state of California.

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