Video Poker 247
- Tribe Needs Video Poker to Restructure Business
The Catawba Indian Nation in York County says that the lottery has
destroyed their livelihood. Donald Rogers, Chief of the tribe, says
that when South Carolina brought in lottery to the state, they hurt
the tribe financially. Rogers says that they used to bring in much
more revenue, but that all changed about five years ago.
That’s when South Carolina brought in the lottery. The Catawba tribe
is the only federally recognized tribe in the state, and they say that
the state needs to help them by giving them video poker machines, as
they are not surviving.
The tribe used to run a bingo hall, and instead they have a Super
Bi-Lo. Back in the late 90’s Rogers says that their bingo hall would
be hopping on weekend nights. They would get more than 1,000 eager
bingo players coming and spending their money at their hall. Then the
SC lottery came in and the bingo hall’s attendance and revenue was cut
in half.
As it was the tribe’s only real revenue stream, they started
suffering. They sued the state, stating that their lottery had put
them out of business, but they lost the case. Now they are asking the
state to allow them to bring in video poker instead. They say that the
games are actually a high stakes bingo game that is a type of video
poker, and they say that it would go a long way towards helping them
out financially.
The video poker machines would bring in much more revenue for the
tribe, of which about 1,000 currently live on the reservation. They
need state or federal approval to bring in the video poker machines,
and they are hopeful that the state will realize what they have done
to the tribe and make amends.
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January 2008 Archive
