Who's Behind It: The North Fork Rancheria Band of Mono Indians are in favor; other casino-operating tribes, who managed to push this onto the ballot, are opposed.
Who Stands to Benefit: The owners of a planned casino, or the owners of existing casinos who could do without the competition.
Our statewide ballot initiatives feature doctors and lawyers — so why not Indian chiefs?
Proposition 48 asks voters to give a yea or nay on a compact passed by the Legislature and signed by the governor that would enable the North Fork Rancheria Band of Mono Indians to construct a Vegas-caliber casino 40 miles from their reservation and 30 miles from Fresno.
While the tribe claims this land was originally under its domain, critics contend this is merely a ploy to tap into the lucrative Fresno gambling market.
Not surprisingly, large amounts of money — presumably not quarters within oversize plastic cups — has been thrown around in a battle over a mega-casino. A group called Stand Up for California has amassed $7.8 million to battle this referendum; this money was largely fronted by rival casino-owning Indian tribes and related interests.
The measure's backers have been swamped, raising some $400,000. The North Fork Rancheria Band has chipped in about 98 percent of that.
We will all be voting on this. This is the state in which we live, physically and metaphysically.
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