Cda Tribe’s National Lottery Is Ruled Legal Other States Likely To Fight Court’s Decision To Allow Long-Distance Game

The Coeur d’Alene Tribe’s National Indian Lottery is legal, a tribal court judge has ruled.

Judge Mary Wynn said the lottery could operate in 37 states that conduct their own lotteries. She also said long-distance phone companies are obligated to provide service to the lottery, despite widespread resistance to the game from officials in other states.

Tribal officials hailed the decision Thursday as a green light for the massive lottery, which would earn millions of dollars for the tribe.

“Full speed ahead,” said tribal chairman Ernie Stensgar. “It means jobs, dollars for programs. It means a future.”

But Dave High, an Idaho deputy attorney general, cautioned that the ruling would likely not prevent other states from fighting the venture. About a dozen attorneys general, from California to Connecticut, have said the lottery is illegal in their states.

“Some of the states seem pretty vocal in their objections,” High said.

If they fight the lottery, he said, the battle would take place in federal courts.

“Those courts will not feel like they’re bound by the decisions of the tribal court,” High predicted.

Caught in the middle is telecommunications giant AT&T, which was the defendant in the tribal court case. The Coeur d’Alenes sued the long-distance carrier to force it to provide 800-number service so people could order tickets. With so many states calling the lottery illegal, AT&T balked.

“Both sides will try to make AT&T do what they want,” High said.

It is still unclear whether AT&T will hook up the phone lines or appeal the case.

“Hopefully they won’t (appeal),” said Stensgar. “I’d like to see them be the carrier.”

AT&T spokesman Mike Lordi said the company’s policy is not to discuss pending litigation. He said AT&T’s attorneys still are studying the 43-page tribal court decision.

“We’ve yet to determine what our next step will be,” Lordi said.

The tribe’s partner in the lottery, Unistar Gaming Corp., has poured about $2 million into a large concrete lottery headquarters near the tribe’s Worley bingo hall. Today the building sits half-finished, plywood covering the windows.

The holdup, Stensgar said, was because phone companies, scared by state saber-rattling, wouldn’t install telephone equipment.

“We couldn’t finish the building, we couldn’t do anything, because we didn’t have a carrier,” he said.

Stensgar said he expects the work to begin soon. He hopes the tribe will have the lottery up and running within three to six months.

“Weather permitting, we’re going to get going,” he said.

, DataTimes