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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Tribe Fears Gaming Will Go Bust Batt Measure To Take Video Gaming From Indians Called Hypocritical

Video gambling machines pour several million dollars a year into the hands of the tiny Kootenai Indian Tribe.

With the money, the nearly 100 tribal members in Bonners Ferry have built a medical clinic and run their own employment and welfare program. The tribe’s gaming hall and hotel, the Kootenai River Inn, has made the Kootenais the second largest employer in Boundary County.

That could all be lost if Gov. Phil Batt gets his way.

Batt’s proposing a law to make video gambling machines illegal. The law would strip tribes such as the Kootenais and Coeur d’Alenes of their main source of income. Tribal members are fighting to stop the proposal and made their case to Boise lawmakers this week.

“We object to … demands from the state to shut down our gaming operation,” said Kootenai Tribal Council Chairperson Velma Bahe on Thursday. “Such a demand is like asking us to commit economic suicide.”

“We are Idaho’s first citizens, first in time, and … because of a long history of oppressive state action, first in poverty,” she said. “Gaming is the only development idea in a hundred years which has actually given us the opportunity to better our lives and achieve the standard of living enjoyed by most citizens of Idaho.”

Batt has said gambling is an unhealthy vice and doesn’t want it to proliferate in the state. Some state officials said the tribes took advantage of language in the law that allowed Idaho to operate a state lottery. The new legislation would close that loophole and forbid any form of casino gambling. Lawmakers will likely discuss the new proposal next week.

Tribal members want state officials to sit down and negotiate a solution, instead of passing laws or going to court. They insist they are operating within the law and accuse the state of being hypocritical.

“The state lottery generates more revenue than our gaming operations, yet the state does not see anything wrong with that,” Bahe said. “Gambling is gambling. If Idaho wants to quit gambling and clean up the state it should give up the lottery also.”

She said the Kootenais and other tribes will again visit with legislators after Batt’s bill is introduced.

While the state looks to siphon tribes’ financial lifeblood, it is doing little to provide them with any other economic opportunities, members said. The Kootenais tried for several years to get a sales tax exemption in order to build and operate a grocery store and get out of the gaming business. The Legislature, however, refused to grant the exemption.

Idaho’s tribes use their gaming profits to support local schools, provide scholarships and college education for their members. The gaming hall and hotel in Bonners Ferry is also a major tourist draw for the town. It brings in visitors from Spokane and Coeur d’Alene, who in turn pump money back into the struggling timber economy.

Bahe said tribes feel like they are being punished for being successful and independent.

“When we were not economically successful, the state did not care what we did on our lands,” she said. “Only when we succeed does the state get interested in our fate.”

The Coeur d’Alene and Kootenai tribes said a year a go they did not expect Indian gaming to last. State Attorney General Alan Lance asked tribes last November to stop video gambling based on a court ruling saying the games were illegal. The ruling is being appealed.

If a higher court determines the games are illegal, Bahe said the Kootenai Tribe will end its gaming operation.

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