The following information came from an article written by John Stearns in the Reno Gazette-Journal. The article deals mainly with Northern California, but it is not difficult to envision a similiar southern effect on Las Vegas.

With its expanding Indian casinos, California could become the largest gaming jurisdiction in the world within 10
years. Bill Eadington, the head of the Institute for the Study of Bambling and Commercial Gaming at the University of Nevada, Reno, estimated that California tribal gaming revenues could be $5.1 to $10.3 billion per year, depending on the number of slot machines and their win per day. An agreement between the state and the
tribes allows about 45,000 slot machines statewide, but there is language in the agreement that could be interpreted
to allow as many as 113,000 slots. On May 15th, the tribes allocated the machines among themselves, but the results have not yet been reported. The agreement between the states and the tribes allows renegotiation in March 2003.

Eadington cited a report from Bear, Stearn & Co, which estimated about a 15% loss of gaming revenue in the Lake Tahoe area and about a 22% loss for the Reno-Sparks area, based on an estimated 45,000 slots in California. Much of the impact will depend on the location of the casinos. For example, the United Auburn Indian
Community