Fitch Announces Criteria Changes for Native American Gaming Issuers.

NEW YORK -- Fitch places the following Native American gaming issuer ratings on Rating Watch Negative pending a review under revised criteria:

Agua Caliente Tribe, CA

--Revenue bonds series 2003 'A-';

--Senior secured notes series 2006 'A-'.

Cow Creek Band of Umpqua Indians, OR

--Taxable tax revenue bonds series 2006A, 2006B 'BBB-';

--Tax-exempt tax revenue bonds series 2006C 'BBB-'.

Laguna Development Corp, NM,

-- Enterprise revenue bonds, series 2006 'BBB'.

Pueblo of Santa Ana, NM,

--Enterprise revenue bonds, series 2006 'BBB'.

San Manuel Entertainment Authority, CA,

--Gaming project bonds, series 2004A 'A';

--Variable rate gaming project bonds, series 2004B 'A';

--Public improvement bonds series 2004C 'A'.

Fitch places the following rating on Rating Watch Evolving pending a review under revised criteria:

Seminole Tribe of Florida,

--Gaming division revenue bonds series 2005A, 2005B 'BBB';

--2007 term loan B-1, B-2, B-3 'BBB'.

While the Rating Watch Negative implies that the ratings are likely to be downgraded, a rating change is not inevitable and will depend upon a review of the credits under the revised criteria. Rating Watch Evolving implies that a rating could go either up or down. Fitch will apply the new criteria in a review of all outstanding credits across the Native American gaming issuer universe. Fitch will publish a final criteria report and adjust all ratings for the revised criteria simultaneously.

The Rating Watch Evolving on the Seminole Tribe indicates that several of the rating factors that will be weighed more heavily under the new criteria, such as diversification of gaming operations and competitive environment, have already been incorporated into the 'BBB' rating. As such, the rating on the Seminole Tribe is less likely to be lower under the new criteria.

On December 20, 2006, Fitch published an exposure draft, 'Tribal Gaming Issuers: Proposed Criteria Changes' that described proposed changes in the rating methodology used by Fitch to rate the debt of Native American gaming issuers. Fitch solicited market feedback until February 26, 2007.

Fitch will adopt a two-step rating process in which it first determines an opinion of the credit profile of the gaming operations, analogous to an Issuer Default Rating (IDR) for a corporate gaming issuer. Although Fitch-rated Native American gaming analogous IDRs will be more comparable to corporate gaming IDRs, it is likely that under the revised criteria they will remain above corporate gaming IDRs on average. Following the determination of the analogous IDR, Fitch will give credit to bond structure and security features by considering a zero, one, or two notch rating enhancement above the analogous IDR based on the relative strength of the structural provisions stipulated by the bond indentures.

The intent of the changes is to harmonize the rating criteria used for commercial gaming issuers and Native American gaming issuers. Under the revised criteria for Native American gaming issuers, Fitch will place more weight on risk factors that affect the gaming industry as a whole, such as competition risk and diversification. Less weight will be placed on factors unique to Native American gaming issuers, such as the essentiality of casino revenues in funding tribal government services. Another important change is that structural protections provided to bond holders will be considered separately.

Fitch's rating definitions and the terms of use of such ratings are available on the agency's public site, www.fitchratings.com. Published ratings, criteria and methodologies are available from this site, at all times. Fitch's code of conduct, confidentiality, conflicts of interest, affiliate firewall, compliance and other relevant policies and procedures are also available from the 'Code of Conduct' section of this site.