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The economy is hitting land based casinos very hard.  Part of the reason is that the very nature of brick and mortar casinos makes it almost impossible to flourish in poor economic conditions.  It is almost impossible for brick and mortar casinos to expand when banks are reluctant to give out loans.  It takes extra capital for casinos to make any additions to their operations.  Even to add slot machines most casinos will have to at least build new floor space.

A tribe in California tried to bring in more slot machines, but they were forced to cancel their plans.  Not only did the tribe intend to add new slot machines they had intended to build a second casino off of its reservation site.

The Sycuan tribe is located in San Diego.  It was not so long ago that the tribe worked it out with California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger to bring in the additional slot machines.  Now this week the tribe Chairman Daniel Tucker wrote to the governor explaining that the expansion plans were canceled due to the faltering economy.

It was only 2006 when the tribe finally won the right to increase the number of slot machines at their Dehesa Valley casino from 2,000 slot machines to 5,000 slot machines.  One of the five tribal compacts negotiated with the tribe allowed the tribes to increase the number of slot machines they operated in hope the state could collect more tax revenues to balance the budget.

A part of the agreement obligated the Sycuan casino to payout a larger portion of the taxation on the revenues from their existing slot machines.

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