It looks like Madera County's North Fork Indian tribe had some high-powered help as it struck a deal this week with Gov. Schwarzenegger on a gaming compact for a planned casino on Highway 99.

Follow along:

The tribe's partner is Las Vegas-based Station Casino. The company's Sacramento lobbyist is Platinum Advisors. Platinum Advisors is led by Darius Anderson. Anderson was once a key fundraiser for former Gov. Gray Davis. One of Davis' top aides was Susan Kennedy, now the chief of staff for .... Gov. Schwarzenegger.

In the first three months of the year, Station Casino paid Platinum $22,500 in lobbying fees, bringing its total charges to almost $109,000. Also, since January, the company has made $21,742 in campaign contributions to five sitting lawmakers, including Senate leader-elect Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramento.

Of course, that's all chump change for this gaming giant. The Las Vegas Review Journal reported this week that Station is designing its biggest-ever project in Sin City -- a mega casino with three-hotels that could cost as much as $10 billion. The North Fork casino -- which still needs federal approval -- is expected to run $250 million.

The company has plenty of money to spread around for sure. Co-owners Frank and Lorenzo Fertitta have apparently made a huge profit on their other business, Ultimate Fighting Championship, which stages mixed martial arts fights. In a cover story out this week, Forbes.com says the brothers bought UFC for $2 million in 2001. It's worth now? The brothers told Forbes they could get $1 billion for the company.