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Catawbas file suit vs. state; state violated settlement: tribe

The Catawba Indian Nation on Thursday filed suit in state court charging that the General Assembly has violated the settlement agreement between the tribe and the state by unilaterally changing the manner in which the tribe is conducting bingo.

The suit also seeks a determination by the court that the 1993 settlement ending the tribe's suit for return of land from the state authorizes the Catawbas to operate video poker or similar electronic games on its York County reservation.

"This is a continuation of the tribe's effort to secure the financial benefit of the land-claim settlement. The state has without the tribe's consent changed the way our bingo game is conducted, and that along with the competition from the state's own gambling enterprise has been costly to the tribe," Assistant Chief Evans George said Thursday in a prepared statement.

The Catawbas will argue that the state has unilaterally changed the settlement that gave the tribe the right to operate two bingo operations in South Carolina.

One of those bingo halls must be within the boundaries of the original land claim in the Rock Hill area. That facility opened in 1997, but has become far less lucrative in recent years. Catawbas attorney Jay Bender cites a loss of revenue since the advent of the state-operated lottery and the state-mandated $18 fee the tribe must charge all bingo customers to enter its facility.

The tribe also will ask the state court in Richland County to acknowledge its right to offer video gambling on its York County reservation — a claim the tribe pressed in a federal lawsuit filed last year.

In a letter dated Monday and cited by The Times and Democrat in a Thursday morning story, George wrote that the tribe "has not wanted to see the return of video poker to South Carolina."

But the traditional low-stakes, low-tech bingo hall in Rock Hill isn't generating enough revenue to "provide for the health, social services, cultural preservation and financial needs of its people," George wrote.

So tribal officials want to operate electronic "start-of-the-art bingo games that almost all of the country's other federally recognized tribes can offer," George said. They want to operate around the clock and electronically link players in multiple states to offer bigger jackpots.

The town of Santee in Orangeburg County along Interstate 95 is the tribe's choice for a second bingo location.

But location of the operation there has been blocked by S.C. officials on both the state and federal levels.

"We have sought opportunities other than video poker, but our efforts have been thwarted by government officials who want the state to benefit from gambling but deny those benefits to the Catawba people," George said Thursday.

The Catawba suit initially was filed in federal court but dismissed in January when U.S. District Judge Cameron Currie said the Catawbas first needed to resolve an internal struggle for tribal leadership.

According to the tribe's statement on Thursday, Currie expressed doubt about the power of the federal court to hear the case.

"We were astonished that a federal judge would think an Indian tribe would give up the right to go to federal court for protection against a state, but we don't have 10 years to argue that point. We're going to sue the state where it has asked to be sued so the tribe can get a speedy determination that the Catawba tribe has the right to have video poker or similar electronic games on the reservation. That was part of our settlement, and represents a significant economic development opportunity for our people."