Felons shot 21 times at bounty hunters in 2004 incident on Soboba reservation, jurors told8/18/2008, The Press-Enterprise
Two convicted felons fired 21 shots at four bounty hunters who went to a mobile home on the Soboba Indian Reservation in 2004 to arrest a man already charged with evading arrest, a prosecutor told jurors Monday. The lead bounty hunter kicked down the home's door Aug. 25, 2004, in an attempt to arrest Dino Allen Moreno, now 42, unaware that there was a small arsenal inside the home. The bounty hunters took cover when Moreno and his girlfriend opened fire with semiautomatic weapons and Moreno was able to get away, prosecutor Chris Bouffard told jurors during opening statements in the trial of Moreno and Shaundeen Theresa Boniface. "He was more than prepared ... Mr. Moreno was telling people he wasn't going back to jail this time around," Bouffard said. 

Church, gaming tribes reach deal on bingo machines
8/18/2008, San Diego Union Tribune
SACRAMENTO - The Catholic Church and California's Indian gaming tribes have struck a compromise that would permit a major expansion of conventional bingo while outlawing electronic versions played on machines that look and act a lot like slots. Amendments outlining the agreement were inserted into a bill Monday, with lawmakers scrambling to wrap up business before adjourning for the year at the the end of the month. If approved, Senate Bill 1369 would end a legal battle over bingo machines, a dispute that threatens hundreds of millions of dollars the tribes pay the state every year for the exclusive right to offer slots and other electronic gaming devices. 

Annual Indian Gaming Industry Report being released8/19/2008, Indianz.com
The annual Indian Gaming Industry Report is being released by the Analysis Group today. Economist Alan Meister says tribal casinos took in $26.5 billion in 2007. That's an increase of 5 percent from 2006 but down from the 10 percent jump seen in 2006 and the 15 percent jump seen in 2005.

Tribes see slower growth in gaming
8/19/2008, The Desert Sun
Indian gaming was not immune to the sputtering economy last year, as the $26.5 billion industry posted a modest 5 percent gain in revenues in 2007. Casino City's Indian Gaming Industry Report by Alan Meister, an economist with Analysis Group, noted that tribes in California led the nation with $7.8 billion in gaming revenues. But California's growth rate - 1.6 percent - was the lowest it has been in years. That's down markedly from two years before. Indian gaming revenue in California grew 9.2 percent in 2006 and by 19.5 percent in 2005. "This is not to say that Indian gaming has performed poorly," the report released Tuesday noted. "It has just not performed as well as it has in the past."

Casino revenue growth slows8/19/2008, THE PRESS DEMOCRAT
California Indian casinos experienced relatively flat growth last year, but still managed to pull in a record $7.8 billion, according to an independent financial analysis being released today. The revenue from the state's 60 tribal casinos grew significantly less in 2007 than in recent years, partly as a result of the weak economy, according to Alan Meister, an economist with Analysis Group, a Los Angeles consulting firm. But Meister said the market for tribal gambling in California, as well as the rest of the country, appears far from saturated and the outlook for Indian gaming as a whole remains positive. "The economy will improve in time, bringing back consumer confidence, disposable income and spending on casino gambling," he said in his report.

 

Economy affecting casinos' cash flow
8/19/2008, San Diego Union Tribune
Indian tribes are finding that gambling isn't as recession-proof as once thought. Two new reports indicate that some of the same forces causing problems for retailers and manufacturers are hitting casinos as well. "Native American casino operators are not immune," Jacques Ouazana, a financial analyst for Moody's Investors Service, wrote in a report released last week.

 

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