Location is Everything

California has some beautiful areas, and some very remote ones. The tribes in California could really say that their success has as much to do with their business sense as it does with where they are located. It seems that those tribes that have successful reservations and casinos, seem to be located in much better areas of the state than the poorer tribes are.

The state has five major tribes that are very successful. The Agua Caliente, San Manuel, Sycuan, Morango and Pechanga tribes all have successful slot machine casinos, and all are located near major highways and large populations. However, there are many other larger tribes that are not located in such idea surroundings, and therefore are not as successful, nor do they have nearly as much money as the other five tribes do.

The big five are in areas that have not only more of the California population at their fingertips, but they also live in the wealthier areas of the state. Heck, the Agua Caliente tribe has one casino in the middle of downtown Palm Springs, and the other one just off of a major highway.

The tribes that have all of the money are collectively bringing in billions of dollars of revenue, and the new slot machine compacts that the state is signing with them will enable them to make upwards of $60 billion annually. This disparity between the few rich tribes and the many poor tribes has many wondering what the government was thinking by giving them even more.

The tribes will get $1.1 million split among those without casinos, but considering the amount of money that the other tribes are bringing it, it is simply chump change. It also isn’t enough, and the state will end up paying more out of its pocket to support them.



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