California's chief election official has cleared the way for voters to decide on several casino expansions, though two of the four Indian tribes involved plan to renew legal efforts to keep the referenda off the Feb. 5 ballot.

Under deals the state government approved earlier this year, the Pechanga Band of Luiseno Indians and three other tribes would be allowed to add as many as 17,000 slot machines to the 8,000 now at their casinos. Pechanga would be allowed to add 5,500 machines to its current 2,000. The new slots could be installed in a casino that Pechanga already has permission to build on its 5,500-acre reservation, which borders Temecula's south side.

But a coalition of a hotel workers union, a horse-track owner and a handful of other tribes circulated petitions to bring the four deals -- known as compacts -- before voters in February. Secretary of State Debra Bowen ruled Friday that the coalition had obtained more than the necessary 433,000 signatures to put the Pechanga expansion to voters. Bowen signed off Monday on similar ballot measures pertaining to the Sycuan tribe east of El Cajon, the Agua Caliente tribe in the Palm Springs area and the Banning-area Morongo tribe.

Pechanga and Morongo sued Bowen last month in an effort to block the referenda on their casinos, saying that the anti-casino group had taken too long to file the petitions. Two judges dismissed those arguments last week in Sacramento Superior Court.

Pechanga will appeal that ruling, Chairman Mark Macarro said Tuesday. The Morongo tribe will appeal its ruling Friday or Monday, Morongo spokesman Patrick Dorinson said. Pechanga attorney Bob Hertzberg, the former state Assembly speaker who represented Pechanga in the case, couldn't be reached for comment Tuesday.

A spokesman for the four tribes said they are continuing their campaign to sway voters. In each of the four ballot measures, a "yes" vote would be for approval of the compact that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger negotiated with each tribe last year.

"We've always had to look at this as though it's going to be on the ballot," said Roger Salazar, a spokesman for the four tribes' Coalition to Protect California's Budget & Economy. "They put $4.5 million into qualifying the referenda. You put that much money in and you can get anything on the ballot."

About 52 percent of registered California voters support the ballot measures, according to a poll conducted last month by Field Research, an independent research firm. Among the 1,200 voters polled, just 35 percent opposed the measures, but that proportion could rise as the anti-casino group redirects its focus from petitioning to advertising, Field's polling director said.

The four tribes, meanwhile, have contributed $18.2 million to the joint campaign, funding pro-casino television commercials in most of the state's major media markets. The ads tout predictions made by Schwarzenegger and other proponents that the state could reap as much as $9 billion in revenue over the next 23 years from the casino expansions.

The nonpartisan analyst who advises the Legislature on budget matters has cautioned that amount is vastly overstated, but the analyst said this week that the delay of final approval until February could reduce the state's revenue by $200 million in the current fiscal year, which ends July 1. The report from the office of Legislative Analyst Elizabeth Hill cited figures from the Schwarzenegger administration. Hill and other analysts in her office couldn't be reached for comment late Tuesday.

Under Pechanga's compact, the tribe would pay the state 15 percent of its net winnings on the first 3,000 machines it adds and 25 percent of the net winnings on the next 2,500 machines. The compact calls for a minimum payment of $42.5 million each year, up from $29 million under the current arrangement. The compact would expire in 2030.

Pechanga representatives have declined to discuss actual plans for an expansion.

State law would also require the tribe and Temecula to come to terms over any such expansion, with the tribe offsetting the cost of wider roads and other expected effects on the city and its residents and businesses. Pechanga and Temecula representatives have met just once to discuss the process for determining those costs, Temecula Councilman Mike Naggar said Tuesday.

"We just want the tribe to mitigate their impacts in regards to traffic and … public safety," Naggar said. "Nothing more, nothing less."

Pechanga has contributed or pledged $21.3 million for local road projects and $4.4 million for law enforcement in neighboring areas since July 1999, according to a tally provided by the tribe.

Still, nearby residents said Tuesday that they've gotten frustrated with -- and even fearful of -- the traffic zipping between the casino and Temecula Parkway to the north. Three residents of Masters Drive, a mile from the casino, said concert-goers frequently cut through their neighborhood when traffic backs up on Pechanga Parkway.

Chrystal Phillips, whose two children must cross the busy thoroughfare on the way to and from Luiseno Elementary, said a widened road would still pose a danger to neighborhood kids. Elementary-school children don't always use the crosswalk a few hundred yards to the south.

"I've seen them, literally, just run across the street," Phillips said. "They're kids. They're going to do it."

Echoing other neighbors, Phillips said crime had increased in the last three years, including two stolen cars and three incidents in which she said thieves broke into her husband's truck. Phillips attributed the crime to casino patrons, though she also said that no neighborhood is immune and that crime wouldn't be the deciding factor for her in February.

All three residents of the street said they would support an expanded casino if they had a guarantee that the traffic wouldn't get any worse.

Pechanga representatives said they sympathized but argued that blocking the compact wouldn't necessarily make things any better.

"We are as frustrated as others in the community with the delays over the much-needed improvements to Pechanga Parkway," Macarro said in an e-mailed statement. "We remain committed to working with the city and county to solve these challenges.

"We must, however, recognize that Pechanga is not the only contributor to traffic. Temecula has undergone dramatic development in the last decade, including, just along Pechanga Parkway, more than 2,000 homes, a new high school, and other developments that generate substantial traffic."

- Contact staff writer Chris Bagley at (951) 676-4315, Ext. 2615, or cbagley@californian.com.