\nLOS ANGELES (AP) \u2013 Voters on Tuesday rejected a ballot measure that would have allowed a Native American tribe near Fresno to build a Las Vegas-style casino off its reservation, a proposal portrayed by opponents as a precedent-setting referendum expanding gaming beyond tribal lands.<\/p>\n
\tWith more than 3 million votes counted, 59 percent of voters cast ballots against Proposition 48.<\/p>\n
\tThe measure had asked voters to approve or reject a law passed by the state Legislature and signed by Gov. Jerry Brown allowing the North Fork Rancheria Band of Mono Indians to build a Las Vegas-style casino with up to 2,000 slot machines nearly 40 miles from its reservation. The casino was proposed about 30 miles from Fresno and 25 miles from a casino operated by the Table Mountain Rancheria tribe.<\/p>\n
\tThat proximity had Table Mountain accusing North Fork of \u201creservation shopping\u201d to build a casino closer to an urban center.<\/p>\n
\tNorth Fork said the 305-acre plot was used by the tribe in the 1850s and a casino would bring 4,500 jobs to the area.<\/p>\n
\tThose opposed to the state law said they were thrilled with the result.<\/p>\n
\t\u201cThis vote now puts the ball squarely in the state Legislature\u2019s court: They now can make a consistent policy on tribal gaming,\u201d said Cheryl Schmit, director of Stand Up for California, which opposed the proposal.<\/p>\n
\tTribal supporters said opponents \u2013 including wealthier tribes with competing gaming interests \u2013 had confused voters by construing the ballot measure as a referendum on the limits of gaming statewide instead of the one-tribe compact it was.<\/p>\n
\tThe defeat will not prevent the North Fork tribe from getting another gaming compact with the state and trying again, said tribal spokesman Charles Banks-Altekruse.<\/p>\n
\t\u201cIf the voters of California don\u2019t like the agreement our tribe had with the state of California, what\u2019s next is we\u2019ll go back and get another agreement and we\u2019ll build the casino with another compact,\u201d he said. \u201cThat\u2019s what I guess the bottom line is.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tUnder the federal Indian Gaming Regulatory Act, tribes can build casinos on reservations that existed before Oct. 17, 1988, but not on land taken into trust after that date.<\/p>\n
\tThe law allows the secretary of Interior to make an exception in cases where the off-reservation land acquisition is in the tribe\u2019s best interest and does not hurt the surrounding community.<\/p>\n
\tThe U.S. Department of Interior has said North Fork Rancheria has a historical connection to the proposed gambling site and strong support from the community.<\/p>\n
\tIn a 2012 letter to then-Interior Secretary Kenneth Salazar, Brown said he was reluctant to allow gambling on land currently ineligible for it, but there were several exceptional circumstances in the North Fork deal. Among them, Brown said, it would prevent a casino from going up on environmentally sensitive areas in Humboldt County.<\/p>\n
\tIn California, 58 tribes currently run 59 casinos.<\/p>\n
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