Measures Threaten Tribal Gambling Restriction Of Reservation Gaming Hot Topic Before Senate Committee
Gambling on Idaho’s Indian reservations will be the hot topic Monday, as a state Senate committee kicks off a hearing on two measures aimed at restricting tribes’ gaming activities.
The first measure is a nonbinding memorial, SJM 101, proposed by Sen. Laird Noh, R-Kimberly. It calls on the federal government to crack down on gaming that violates the state constitution.
Idaho’s tribes have been taken aback by that proposal, contending their gaming is legal and comes under compacts negotiated with the state.
The second measure, SB 1213, was drafted by the attorney general’s office at the request of the governor. It tightens language in the law that legalized Idaho’s state lottery in an attempt to make it clear that video gambling machines are illegal.
Tribes also have expressed concern about that measure, saying it amounts to changing the rules under which both sides agreed to gaming compacts.
The hearing will start at 2:30 p.m. in the Gold Room on the fourth floor of the Capitol, before the Senate State Affairs Committee.
Committee Chairman Sen. John Hansen, R-Idaho Falls, said if there’s not time for all the testimony Monday, the hearing may continue during the committee’s Wednesday meeting.
The Coeur d’Alene Tribe plans to send a half-dozen officials to Boise for the hearing.
“This is an issue of the economic future,” said Coeur d’Alene Tribe spokesman Bob Bostwick. “We entered a compact in 1992 and we have operated in good faith for these past five years, and very successfully.”
The Coeur d’Alenes have donated more than $600,000 in gaming proceeds to area schools, and have built a $91,000 scholarship fund.
The Coeur d’Alene Tribe operates video gambling machines at its bingo casino in Worley. The Kootenai Tribe has similar machines at its Kootenai River Inn near Bonners Ferry.
Federal law allows tribes to engage in any kind of gambling that is legal elsewhere in the state, provided they negotiate a gambling compact with the state.
Tribes have contended that when Idaho legalized the state lottery, it opened the door for the type of machines they operate, which have been referred to variously as video pull-tab machines, video lotteries and video bingo.
But Attorney General Al Lance and some lawmakers say the tribes’ machines are akin to slot machines, and are more like the casino gambling that Idaho voters outlawed several years ago than they are like the state lottery.
In recent weeks, both the governor and state legislative leaders have softened their statements about tribal gaming.
Batt, who sees gambling as unhealthy, has taken note of the economic success it has brought to Idaho tribes.
In a talk to the Idaho Press Club this week, Senate President Protem Jerry Twiggs said it would be hypocritical for the state to continue to sell its lottery tickets through machines, while telling tribes they can’t run their machines.
“I had a different view of this two weeks ago,” Twiggs said. Then he saw a state lottery machine that required a player to put in money, then receive a ticket telling whether or not the player wins. That’s how the tribe’s video machines work, too, he said.
“I have a problem saying, ‘by golly, we can do this as a state, but saying to the tribes ‘you can’t have that,”’ Twiggs said.
Twiggs added, however, that he still supports SB 1213.
Some state officials have said they’re most concerned that gambling will become more widespread in Idaho, but Bostwick said that’s not likely to happen through the tribes’ efforts.
“We’ve got stationary facilities, they’re highly regulated, they’re locally controlled and all the revenue and profit from those places stays home,” he said. “The market is not going to get much bigger, so neither will the facilities.”
, DataTimes