Attorneys for the Catawba Indian Nation and the state of South Carolina recently presented arguments before the state Supreme Court on whether South Carolina’s Gambling Cruise Act applies to the tribe. Arguing for the Catawbas, attorney Williams Wilkins said the act and the state’s 1993 settlement with the tribe together give the Catawbas the right to offer gambling on their reservation, even though video gambling is illegal within the state’s borders. But Assistant Deputy Attorney General C. Havird Jones, representing the state, said the crucial phrase in the act, “to the same extent,” means “authorized by the state Legislature.”
Justice Donald W. Beatty asked Wilkins what had changed since the state Supreme Court in 2007 declared the Catawbas could not operate video poker on their reservation. Wilkins said this case is not about the ban on video poker, but the interpretation of the Gambling Cruise Act, which allows gambling, combined with the 1993 settlement between the state and the Catawbas, which reads the tribe may permit on its reservation “video poker or similar electronic play devices to the same extent that the devices are authorized by state law. ”Wilkins said the clause “has no geographic component. The question is what was authorized, not where it was authorized.”
Jones said the 2007 Supreme Court case covered “identical subject manner” now before the court. He added arguing that the state’s Gambling Cruise Act allows gambling on the Catawba reservation is “plainly an absurd interpretation,” noting the gambling cruise act specifically indicates gambling cannot begin until boats reach international waters and prohibits any casino-like gambling in areas controlled by South Carolina.
The 1993 settlement between the tribe and the state, which granted the tribe more than 60,000 land parcels in eastern York, Chester and Lancaster Counties, also allowed the tribe to open two bingo parlors. The Catawbas operated a bingo hall in Rock Hill from 1997 to 2006 but closed it, they said, because the state’s education lottery impacted revenues. South Carolina banned video gaming in 2000 but the tribe sued in 2004 and 2005 for the right to bring video poker to the reservation to make up for revenue lost due to the lottery. The state Supreme Court ruled against the tribe in March 2007. The current appeal before the state Supreme Court comes from the tribe’s plans to open a gaming casino at its York County reservation, which was announced in January 2012 and denied by a circuit court judge in April 2013.
The 2,800-member Catawba tribe, the only federally recognized tribe in the state, plans to open a new bingo parlor on Cherry Road and also is pursuing a casino on tribal lands in North Carolina.
Catawba Chief Bill Harris said the state Supreme Court judges’ questions indicated they were interested in the tribe’s arguments. He said a ruling will affect the Catawba Nation and all residents of South Carolina residents because if the Catawba casino is approved it will generate tax money that could be used for education. An economic study posted with the lawsuit said the casino and two hotels would create more than 4,000 jobs, generate $259 million in annual revenue and pay the state about $110 million annually in gaming fees and taxes.
The justices have not set a timetable for issuing their ruling.
The Catawbas also are waiting for a decision on the application filed last summer to have 16 acres of land near King Mountain, North Carolina taken into federal trust. The tribe hopes to build a casino-resort with a 220,000 square foot gaming floor, 1,500 hotel rooms, restaurants and shops, creating more than 3,000 permanent jobs.
