At least $3,674,152 -- Includes 1995-96 campaign contributions and Proposition 201 expenditures

June 9, 1997

The Grand Canyon State has legalized betting at card rooms and dog and horse tracks, in the state lottery, and at 16 Indian casinos, including Harrah's Ak Chin Casino, which offer slots, other electronic gaming devices, and poker -- at least until the attorney general releases an opinion on the latter's legality. Each tribe operates under its own "compact" with the state, which details what kind of gaming will be allowed and how it will be regulated.

After issuing compacts to 16 of the 21 tribes in Arizona, Governor Fife Symington, a longtime opponent of gambling, announced in 1995 that he would issue no more, citing a recent 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruling that a state only needs to let Indian casinos have those forms of gambling that the state allows off reservations. The compact-less Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community brought its demands for slots to the people with a ballot initiative -- Proposition 201, the "Fairness Initiative" -- to expand Indian gambling, which won resoundingly.

Gov. Symington then presented a compact to the Salt River tribe, which rejected it, saying that it contains numerous alterations from the "standard" compact that Proposition 201 was to guarantee. The items at issue include the location of the proposed casino: The tribe plans to build it on reservation land near the cities of Scottsdale, Tempe, and Mesa, but the governor feels that is "alarmingly close" to two colleges and would "pose a significant threat to residential areas." The case is pending before the Arizona Supreme Court.

The compacts prohibit the state from disclosing how much the Indian casinos are making, but from the more than $3.6 million that the Salt River tribe's ballot measure committee spent promoting Proposition 201, you can bet they expect to make a bundle. See what other gambling interests are investing in politics with the following data from the Arizona Secretary of State's searchable online database of campaign finance information:

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