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Print This StoryCatawba Nation Fights For Video Gambling
Native American Tribe Wants Bingo On Reservation
CHARLESTON, S.C.
-- The Catawba Indian Nation is filing a lawsuit, asking a federal
judge to affirm the tribe's right to operate video gambling on its York
County reservation.
The suit also seeks to prevent local law enforcement officers from
trying to seize video poker machines.
The tribe wants to build a hall for electronic, high-stakes bingo
in Santee. However, that plan has met with opposition in the Legislature.
While the tribe says it would prefer the Santee operation, an
attorney for the Catawbas said the tribe wants the courts to reaffirm its
right to operate video gambling on its reservation.
Tribal leaders said allowing video gambling on the reservation was
part of a land claim settlement made with the government a decade ago.
Video gambling was outlawed in South Carolina in 2000.
Copyright 2004 by TheCarolinaChannel and The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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