A decision "regarding the expansion of gambling in South Carolina is for the state -- and not the federal government -- to make," said Wilkins, R-Greenville.

But an attorney for the tribe, Jay Bender, said the issue belongs in Congress. He says state leaders are asking the Catawbas to go to the folks who want to put them out of business.

"It makes absolutely no sense," Bender said after religious and government leaders said the tribe's quest for federal legislation cuts state leaders out of discussions on a state issue.

Critics say they oppose federal regulation of the proposed site in Santee because the Catawbas might use congressional approval to introduce casino-type gambling like blackjack and slot machines.

They want the Catawbas' gambling operations to stick to the rules described in a 1993 agreement that allowed the tribe to operate two bingo halls in South Carolina.

But now the tribe wants to be placed under the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act. Federal jurisdiction would remove the Santee site from some restrictions the tribe operates under at its bingo hall in Rock Hill.

The Catawbas need federal legislation to allow them to link Santee bingo operations electronically to those of other Indian tribes. That way, they could offer jackpots of more than $100,000.

The tribe is willing to fight the issue in court and even set up video gambling machines, which the state banned three years ago, in its York County reservation if it is not allowed to set up a new bingo operation, Bender said.

"The tribe will explore all its options, including legal action, to get back to its status in 1993, when it was the lead gaming operation in South Carolina," Bender said.

Bender said the 1993 agreement also would allow the Catawbas to operate video gambling machines on the York County reservation.

Under the 1993 agreement, the Catawbas claim, they -- not the state -- are supposed to be South Carolina's leading gambling business. But competition from the state-operated lottery, which began in January 2002, has cut their Rock Hill bingo revenues in half, Bender said.

The Catawbas have promised that if they get congressional approval to offer high-stakes bingo games in Santee, they won't try to set up a Las Vegas-style casino anywhere in South Carolina.The Catawbas "need to make their case with the General Assembly," said Gov. Mark Sanford's spokesman Will Folks.

"Going over the state's head is not the way to engage in a debate that wants to change things," Folks said.

U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., says he's listening to the wishes of state leaders.

"I am not going to vote for any federal statute until there's a consensus at home as to what is the best course to deal with the Indian gaming problem," Graham said.

The Rev. Hal Lane, president of the South Carolina Baptist Convention, said he was worried that networked video bingo machines will just be a new form of video gambling.

An expansion would "guarantee more gambling addictions, bankruptcies, destruction of families and an exponential leap in all social ills that proliferate in a culture of greed," Lane said.

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