Tribe Ready To Scratch Lottery Deal Nez Perce Object To Language Of Proposed Compact With State

Negotiations between state and Nez Perce tribal officials to bring the Idaho Lottery back to the reservation after nearly four years have run into a snag.

Lottery representatives and Indian leaders tentatively agreed a few weeks ago to have the state pay the tribe 12 percent of gross annual lottery sales from outlets on the reservation.

That could generate an estimated $150,000 a year for the tribe based on projected sales of $1.3 million on the reservation, Idaho Lottery Director Dennis Jackson said.

But Deputy Attorney General David High said state Rep. Charles Cuddy, D-Orofino, suggested the state look at the proposed draft compact with respect to jurisdictional issues. And Deputy Attorney General Clive Strong recommended that the compact include language guaranteeing it would not be used by either the state or the tribe to pursue jurisdictional claims.

Nez Perce tribal officials rejected the proposed language.

Cuddy said he asked Strong to review the proposed compact based on advice from deputy attorney generals last summer.

“All my interest is in the lottery,” he said Wednesday. But if the compact has “overriding ramifications, I don’t think it should be out there. I was inclined to go with what the attorney general’s office recommends. My business in this is to make sure it is an agreement that is acceptable to the state of Idaho.”

Nez Perce tribal attorney Doug Nash said the state proposed a limit on either party using the lottery compact for any other purpose in any manner in the future.

“In our view, it is both unnecessary and unreasonably broad,” Nash said.

Nash said tribal officials thought they had worked out the details to enable the lottery to make more money, allow merchants to sell tickets on the reservation and help the tribe.