In the last decade, the tribe has donated more than $6 million to charitable groups, schools, hospitals and fire and police departments. The Chumash no longer have to rely on others for running water or clothing. The tribal casino, one of the most profitable in the state, is expected to generate $200 million in revenue this year. The 2000 initiative legalized the slot machines, along with blackjack and other games of chance, and the Chumash reaped a windfall. In 1994, the tribe added slot machines and began bringing in serious money - $31 million the first year.

The operation faltered, closing and reopening several times.

The Chumash - formally the Santa Ynez Band of Mission Indians - first turned to gambling in 1983, offering high-stakes bingo in a tent.

Tensions began building in the valley after California voters approved a ballot initiative in 2000 that gave Indian tribes the exclusive right to offer Las Vegas-style gambling. “If my objective was to just stop them,” Jackson said of the Chumash, “how effective have I been? They have essentially done what they wanted to do on their land.” They could file suit in local courts.īut none of those tactics works when the developer is a sovereign entity. They could lobby elected officials to intervene. If Home Depot wanted to build here, residents could fight the proposal before the zoning board, the county Planning Department and other agencies. They are discovering, to their dismay, that there is little they can do to block the tribe’s ambitious development plans.ĭespite raising more than $300,000 and hiring lawyers, lobbyists and consultants over the past year, residents can point to just one tangible achievement: delaying the issuance of liquor licenses for the casino resort.Ĭharles “C.J.” Jackson, a leading opponent of the tribe’s development proposals, says the struggle has been exasperating. Accustomed to having their way, these property owners are confronting a sovereign entity flush with gambling revenue and unfettered by state or local land-use regulations.

Chumash casino shootings