Texas Trying To Block Cda Indian Lottery Lone Star State Among Those Fighting Tribe’s National Game

A bill to prevent a nationwide Indian-run lottery from selling tickets in Texas - potentially slashing the state’s take from its own numbers game - was approved Wednesday by the state Senate.

“I don’t like lotteries anyway,” said Sen. Jane Nelson, R-Flower Mound, sponsor of the measure.

“But if we are going to have a lottery in Texas, by golly, I want to make sure that the lottery money’s going into our general revenue, not being siphoned off by Indians in Idaho,” she said.

Idaho’s Coeur d’Alene Tribe is working on a national lottery, using toll-free telephone lines and credit cards.

Nelson’s bill passed on a 30-0 vote and goes to the House for consideration.

The Coeur d’Alene lottery would allow tickets to be sold by telephone or mail with a minimum $5 purchase. Tickets could be charged to a credit card.

Tribal leaders have said the tickets would be offered in the states that have lotteries and in the District of Columbia. The game is scheduled to start this fall.

Several states contend that the National Indian Lottery would be illegal under state and federal law.

Current Texas law forbids pur chase of a state lottery ticket through a credit card, or by telephone or mail. Tickets also may be sold only by state-licensed agents.

Nelson said her bill is meant to ensure the Indian game couldn’t come into Texas through a loophole.

“I just want to make sure that the shell is set up so that when we do explore this, we can put into the … agreement enough restrictions that they won’t come,” she said.

She said it’s estimated that Texas would see a 50 percent drop in its lottery revenues if the national Indian game were allowed in the state.