Connecticut Fighting Indian Lottery

Connecticut put telephone companies on notice Monday: allow a national Indian lottery’s 1-800 phone number through to state residents and face misdemeanor charges.

“We are notifying the various telephone companies today that if in fact they do allow for the 1-800 number to be set up, we’ll go for an arrest warrant,” said Chief State’s Attorney Jack Bailey at a news conference called by Attorney General Richard Blumenthal.

The Coeur d’Alene Tribe announced earlier this month it plans to begin a national lottery by the end of the summer in Washington, D.C., and the 36 states that allow lotteries.

Connecticut would lose $50 million a year, or 25 percent, in revenue from the state lottery if the national lottery were permitted, Blumenthal said.

But the tribe’s lottery will also violate state and federal law prohibiting gambling through telephone lines and gambling with credit cards, he said.

“Very clearly it represents not only the major revenue loss, but also a loss of control for Connecticut,” Blumenthal said. “We can’t control it, or regulate it, or police it, or tax it … It might well decimate our regulatory scheme.”

Connecticut law prohibits the sale of out-of-state lottery tickets for a fee, while federal law prohibits the interstate transmission of gambling information, the mailing of lottery tickets and importing of lottery tickets, Blumenthal and Bailey said.

The tribe contends the federal Indian Gaming Regulatory Act exempts them from such laws because they have a compact with Idaho. The tribe has spent the past three years answering legal questions about the lottery, spokesman Bob Bostwick said.

“The attorney general in Connecticut is going to do what’s best for his client, just as any lawyer. This has met with every single legal challenge,” he said. “What’s going on here is one state is trying to eliminate competition. That’s not how the American process works.”

But Blumenthal said the tribe does not have a compact with Connecticut.

“The law very clearly requires that they have a compact in the state where the otherwise prohibited activity is undertaken,” he said. “It’s really a black and white question.”

The state of Florida has issued a similar opinion to Blumenthal’s. Blumenthal said he has put the issue on the agenda of the National Association of Attorneys General, which meets next week in Washington.

Blumenthal said his office has already faxed letters to the six telephone companies providing local and long distance service to Connecticut residents, directing them to block access to the lottery number.

If the companies fail to comply, it could result in a year jail sentence and a fine of $1,000, Bailey said.

The state can require telephone companies to refuse or discontinue service if the business being conducted violates state law, Blumenthal said.

The phone companies - Southern New England Telephone Co., Woodbury Telephone Co., NYNEX, MCI, Sprint and AT&T - said they were reviewing the issue and the law.

MCI and AT&T are competing to carry the 1-800 line.

SNET spokeswoman Beverly Levy said she couldn’t recall ever receiving such a request before.

The company’s attorneys are reviewing the request and the laws while the engineers determine if it’s possible, she said.

“There are some technical questions as to how we would comply with this,” she said.

Frank Walter, an MCI spokesman, said his company was adopting a wait and see attitude.

“We’ll certainly adhere to any laws established here,” he said.

“If it’s proven in Connecticut we’ll work to comply.”