Opponents see little but more gambling addiction problems and clogged roads, with little guarantee of significant new payments to state coffers for the trouble. Proponents say the expansions will help uplift long-oppressed Native Americans, and they predict billions of new dollars will roll in from the tribes to help shore up the ailing state budget.

Regardless of the opposing contentions, the bald fact is that the passage Tuesday of state Propositions 94, 95, 96 and 97 - each handily winning with 56 percent approvals - now allows at least two Southern California tribes to swell their existing gambling operations so much that they could outstrip the largest casino in the country.

That casino, Foxwoods Resort in Connecticut, is run by the Mashantucket Pequot tribe and has 7,400 slots machines. Tuesday's election gives the Morongo and Pechanga tribes, both near San Diego, the ability to expand from 2,000 slots to 7,500.

The other two tribes whose gambling compacts were on the ballot in the form of propositions, Agua Caliente and Sycuan, are near Palm Springs and can now swell from their current 2,000 slots to 5,000 apiece.

Roger Salazar, spokesman for the campaigns to approve the propositions, said the tribes plan "a measured ramp-up," of hundreds, not thousands, of new slots in the coming months. But observers and foes of the expansions are taking a wait-and-see attitude.

"It was a very complex issue placed in simplistic terms for the purposes of an election, and I'm concerned about the devil in the details in terms of what this means for tribes and for the state," said Phil Klasky, a professor of Indian law at San Francisco State University.

He emphasized that he doesn't pick sides in election issues, but noted that the benefits or harmful effects of the gaming measures remain to be realized.

"Gambling has finally given many tribes the financial resources to help make up for the injustices they have suffered over the years, but there is some collateral damage too, in gaming addiction and a focus on economics that takes Indian leadership away from concentrating on preservation of their culture," he said. "We still have to see how this all plays out."

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger saw little ambiguity in the prospects. The propositions merely reaffirmed compacts he signed with the four tribes last year, and Schwarzenegger has maintained that the agreements could bring in $500 million a year to the state.

The governor said Wednesday he felt "very good" about the ballot victory. He said he thought the propositions passed because "the people felt that we need the money, especially when we are in a fiscal crisis." The state currently faces a projected $14 billion budget shortfall.

Others among the 57 gambling tribes throughout the state may now begin renegotiating their compacts to become bigger, and tribes seeking to establish compacts will be emboldened.

"Casino expansions can bring more traffic, more gambling addiction, more troubles in general, and since the tribes are sovereign nations there is often little recourse once a casino has been established," said Cheryl Schmit, director of Stand Up for California.

This story has been corrected since it appeared in print editions.

E-mail Kevin Fagan at kfagan@sfchronicle.com.

This article appeared on page A - 15 of the San Francisco Chronicle