State faces tough road with tribes - 2004-01-18
Ask Richard Milanovich if California's Indian casino tribes are likely to ante up $500 million to help balance Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's planned state budget, and you get a concise answer: "No."
Milanovich is the chairman of the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians, one of the state's most thriving and politically influential tribes, and the only
one with two casinos, one in the heart of Palm Springs.

Schwarzenegger is the former actor who repeatedly attacked the state's casino tribes as a heavy-handed special interest in last year's recall election and promised voters he would get the tribes to "pay their fair share," which his campaign estimated at the time to be at least $1 billion.
Read the full story at Sacramento Bee

THE HORSESHOE CLOSING: Blame Becky - 2004-01-18
Becky Binion Behnen's 5 1/2-year stint as proprietor of Binion's Horseshoe was a failure, industry experts concurred.

What used to be a dynamic gambling hall, a place that won money faster than any downtown casino not named Golden Nugget, is now closed, the victim, experts said, of extensive incompetence.

After U.S. marshals last weekend entered her property and seized its cash on behalf of the Culinary's pension and health care plans, the Horseshoe was forced to close because Behnen was unwilling or unable to replenish the casino's bankroll.
Read the full story at Las Vegas Review-Journal