Spokesmen for the tribe said the casino will open for the publicTuesday at 9 p.m. The Pauma band is the only one of the four North County bandsthat did not partner with large gambling operations and is instead”independently developing the project” with the help ofconsultants. In a report Thursday, Traverso told the commissioners that 18 ofthe 61 compact tribes had not responded to a letter for informationon the number of machines licensed and the fees paid through thetribe’s accounting firm.Īmong the tribes that didn’t respond were the Pauma and La Jollabands in North County, the report said.

Traverso said part of the problem is that the commission doesn’teven have complete information on how many machines were licensedby the tribes’ accounting firm or if the fees paid for thoselicenses are accurate. “The tenor of the commission has been that the deadline is notMay 15,” said Robert Traverso, executive director of thecommission, which will address the issue at its meeting today. Gray Davis’ blessing, said inMarch that it alone has the authority to license the machines andconsiders the licenses issued through the accounting firm to be”permits.” “My clients are taking the position that if they open May 15,then the deadline is not an issue,” said Larry Stidham, anEscondido attorney for the Pauma band.ĭuring the past year, tribes hired an accounting firm to overseea series of confidential draws to issue the slot machinelicenses.īut the commission, with Gov. Members of the newly formed California Gambling ControlCommission have hinted for months that May 15 is not a hard andfast deadline.īut a lawyer for the Pauma band said the tribe is taking thesafe road by opening on time. Since May 15, 2000, was the first date tribes drew slots fromthe pool of available machines, many tribes assumed that was thedate the state would follow. That includes four tribes in North County- Pauma, Pala, Rincon and San Pasqual.Ī provision in each of the state’s 61 gambling compacts withAmerican Indians says tribes must have their slot machinesoperating a year from the date the machines were licensed or themachines would go back into the pool. Since California Indians were given permission to set up casinoslast year, tribes up and down the state have been scrambling tomeet the May 15 deadline. The casino, which will be built on the tribe’s reservation inPauma Valley, 12 miles east of Interstate 15 off Highway 76, willalso provide employment for about 650 people. Pauma’s $40 million, 65,000-square-foot casino will have 850slot machines, 24 game tables, a restaurant and a lounge.

Pauma casino friday june 29