LOS ANGELES — Dozens of casino-less Indian tribes enjoyed the largess of their gambling brethren with the allocation of $22.5 million under an agreement that calls for tribes with gambling operations to give some of their profits to those without.
The money, distributed Monday by the state controller's office, was part of $39 million contained in a special fund created by the revenue-sharing agreement. Negotiations on how the rest should be doled continue.
The money is intended for impoverished reservations, with each expecting about $1.1 million annually.
The partial distribution ended a months-long delay that had infuriated some critics of the California Gambling Control Commission, which accused the panel of dragging its feet in cutting checks for the various tribes.
"Their gross mismanagement of this fund stands as a colossal failure thus far of the state to fulfill its responsibility," said Michael Lombardi, an Indian gambling consultant. "It's sad that California's poorest communities continue to be denied these funds."
Commission officials have blamed the delays on understaffing, disagreement over the state's authority and tribes' failure to promptly provide information needed to calculate the payments.
"The state takes its role as trustee very seriously," said Gary Qualset, the commission's deputy director of licensing and compliance. "We're trying to exercise caution."
California tribes are the only ones with a trust fund where those with gambling operations help poorer tribes, according to the National Indian Gaming Commission. The fund was established under agreements tribes signed with Gov. Gray Davis after a constitutional amendment legalizing Indian casinos was approved by voters in March 2000.
Gambling tribes pay a one-time fee of $1,250 for each slot machine they are licensed to operate and annual fees per device, set according to the size of the casino. Tribes with fewer than 350 machines are exempt.