Accord Scales Back Indian Casino Deal

A deal reached last week between Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and a small Indian tribe to bring the largest urban casino in the country to a small city near here has been significantly scaled back. Mr. Schwarzenegger's office announced Monday that the governor had signed the agreement but that a major  provision had been changed. Instead of allowing the Lytton Band of Pomo Indians to build a casino with 5,000 slot machines in San Pablo, about 15 miles north of Oakland, the final agreement allows 2,500. The reduction had been proposed in a letter to the governor from Margie Mejia, the Lytton Band tribal chairwoman. The change was a last-minute effort to save the deal, which needs approval by  the State Legislature and the Department of Interior. Mr. Schwarzenegger and the Lytton Band had come under intense criticism from elected officials for agreeing to such a large casino, which would have been the third largest in the United States after two rural Indian casinos in Connecticut. [more ]