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KPBS Evening Edition

Rincon To Spend More Gaming Revenues Locally

By Alison St John / Reporter
Published October 11, 2011 at 3:02 PM PDT
This story was published more than 13 years ago.
Bo Mazzetti, chair of the Rincon Band; Danny Tucker, chair of the Sycuan Band and Alan Lawson, chair of the San Pasqual Band of Mission Indians, appearing before the San Diego County Board of Supervisors on Oct. 11, 2011.
Alison St John
Bo Mazzetti, chair of the Rincon Band; Danny Tucker, chair of the Sycuan Band and Alan Lawson, chair of the San Pasqual Band of Mission Indians, appearing before the San Diego County Board of Supervisors on Oct. 11, 2011.
Rincon To Spend More Gaming Revenues Locally
A Native American band in North County has reached an agreement to share some of its gaming profits with the County.

For eight years, The Rincon Band has argued that money the state requires from tribes wanting to expand their casinos is an illegal tax.

In June, it won the case: The Band will share some of its proceeds with the county instead of the state.

Supervisor Bill Horn says this is a big change in the way gaming profits are distributed.

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“The gaming revenue was being put into the general fund of the State of California,” he said, “and not coming back to mitigate anything.”

Horn said millions will now be available to help mitigate increased traffic, crime, and gambling problems. Some money may also go to increased fire protection in the vicinity of the casino.

Bo Mazzetti, Chair of the Rincon Band, said exactly how many millions is not clear yet.

“It doesn’t have a dollar figure in it, “he said, “because we don’t know until we finish negotiating with the state what that pot of money is going to be. “

Negotiations between the state and the band will determine how much money the band must share with the county, but the band and the county will decide together how the money will be spent.

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Harrah's Rincon Casino is east of Valley Center. It currently has 1600 slot machines but wants to expand that eventually by 900.

The shift of gaming revenues from the state to the county is in line with Governor Jerry Brown's realignment strategy: shifting more responsibility for solving problems to the counties, and providing some revenue to do that.

San Diego is home to more Native American bands than any other county in the state. The region could ultimately benefit from many millions of dollars in gaming revenues, if other tribes negotiate future agreements the same way.

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Alison St John
Alison St John currently serves as a general assignment reporter and occasionally co-hosts KPBS Midday Edition. She fell in love with KPBS Radio when she arrived in San Diego in 1985 and first heard NPR. She has been a voice on KPBS Radio since 1989, and has served as a news reporter for radio, TV and the web, as well as anchoring, hosting, producing and editing. Alison has reported on stories about North County and was based in the KPBS' North County Bureau. Alison covered the metro beat during the critical period of the San Diego City pension crisis, and the education beat while Alan Bersin was the controversial Superintendent of San Diego City School District. She covered health when the industry was converting to managed care and told welfare reform stories in the late 1990s when Clinton was “ending welfare as we know it.” She has covered land use issues extensively, looking at the challenges of meeting a growing population while preserving community character, and developing a better transportation system to meet environmental concerns. She has done many stories on the military in San Diego, and the series she edited on the challenges veterans face returning from active duty to civilian life won “Best of Show” from the San Diego Society of Professional Journalists. She occasionally hosts the KPBS Roundtable and KPBS Midday Edition. Alison has won awards from the San Diego Press Club, the Society of Professional Journalists, the Associated Press TV and Radio Association, and the California Golden Mike Awards. Alison was born in Tanzania, brought up in Scotland, and earned her degree in psychology and sociology from Durham University in England. Her postgraduate diploma is in student counseling. She worked in England, Nigeria, Switzerland, Belgium, India, and Japan before moving to the United States in 1981. She now lives in Oceanside and enjoys how her community is growing and changing.
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