SACRAMENTO – Moving to the brink of a legal showdown, California gaming tribes yesterday overwhelmingly rejected a set of minimum security standards that the state wants to enforce in all Indian casinos.

In a startling surprise, Attorney General Jerry Brown's representatives voted with the tribes against the guidelines developed by the California Gambling Control Commission.

Anticipating the tribes' opposition, the commission has been preparing for months to adopt the regulations unilaterally and apply them to all the state's nearly 60 casinos.

If that happens, tribal attorneys have vowed to take the commission to court to settle a long-running dispute over the extent of the state's authority to regulate the $8 billion Indian gaming industry.

Overview Background: California's gambling commission wants to adopt minimum security standards for Indian casinos. Tribes say they already spend millions of dollars a year on that. What's changing: The commission is preparing to unilaterally impose standards on Indian casinos. The future: Tribes have vowed to challenge the state's move in a lawsuit that could have much broader implications.

“We're anticipating that this issue will ultimately be resolved in the courts, and we're confident that we'll prevail,” said Scott Crowell, an attorney for the Rincon band of San Diego County.

The state began developing the internal security guidelines two years ago, not long after a federal court tossed out similar standards developed by the National Indian Gaming Commission. The federal commission, the court concluded, had exceeded its authority.

The rules are an attempt to set a baseline for equipment and personnel that watch over the money as it flows through a casino.

The regulations also cover internal audits, other surveillance and the games themselves, from technical specifications to how often decks of cards must be changed.

Tribes contend that they spend millions of dollars a year to comply voluntarily with many of the standards. Moreover, they say, any such mandate would have to be negotiated as part of a tribal-state gambling agreement.

The commission's proposal had been pending for months before it was voted on yesterday in a closed-door meeting at the Rolling Hills Casino near Corning. All but three tribes voted against it. Sycuan of El Cajon, Pechanga of Temecula and San Manuel of suburban San Bernardino each abstained, several sources said.

“It was perfunctory,” said David Quintana, a lobbyist for the California Tribal Business Alliance, which represented a group of tribes at the meeting. “Everyone knew what was going to happen.”

The commission's attorneys, who reportedly were blindsided by the attorney general's vote, declined to comment.

A spokesman for Brown said the attorney general supports the standards, but did not agree with some revisions the commission made when it largely incorporated the invalidated federal rules.

Bracing for the legal clash with the tribes, the commission is about to adopt a similar set of standards for the state's nearly 100 card rooms. Tribes complained in the past that the state was attempting to force Indian casinos to abide by rules that didn't exist in card clubs.

Those regulations are moving ahead with card club support and will go before the commission for a vote next week.

“I don't believe there is any opposition from anybody,” said Kermit Schayltz, president of the Golden State Gaming Association. “There is a small amount of concern with a couple of minor sections . . . If we can address those, there is very little heartburn out there.”

Jan Beverley, general manager of The Lucky Lady, a nine-table card room in San Diego, said the club had no objection to the new rules.

“It costs a little more money and a little more maintenance . . . but it's fine. We run an upstanding business,” Beverley said.