Prop 48, tribal gaming measure, defeated
LOS ANGELES -- Voters have rejected a ballot measure that would have allowed a Native American tribe near Fresno to build a Las Vegas-style casino on land that's nearly 40 miles from its reservation.
Proposition 48's defeat Tuesday stalls an effort by the North Fork Rancheria Band of Mono Indians to build a casino with up to 2,000 slot machines.
The casino would have been about 30 miles from Fresno and 25 miles from a casino operated by the Table Mountain Rancheria tribe.
That proximity led Table Mountain to accuse North Fork of reservation shopping to build a casino closer to an urban center.
North Fork contended the 305-acre plot was used by the tribe in the 1850s, and the project would have brought 4,500 jobs to the area.
A law approving the casino was previously passed by the state Legislature and signed by Gov. Jerry Brown.
