Bay Area casino shelved

The California legislature approved casino revenue-sharing plans for four Native American tribes late on Thursday, but it declined to take up a separate plan that would have allowed for a tribal casino in the San Francisco-Oakland metropolitan area. Racetrack lobbyists had focused their efforts on defeating the San Francisco casino, claiming that the slots parlor could have drastic impacts on Golden Gate Fields in nearby Albany, Calif. "We dodged a bullet that was headed right for our temple," said Rick Baedeker, the president of Hollywood Park, on Friday, after spending several days lobbying against the proposal. "If you kill Golden Gate, you put all of northern California at risk, which in turn jeopardizes Southern California." Under the deals, the tribal casinos will be required to underwrite $1 billion worth of state bonds and pay license fees for new slot machines. The San Francisco casino proposal was pulled from the table late on Thursday by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger under pressure from northern California legislators. The casino, which would have been located in San Pablo, would have been the first in California located in a major metropolitan area.