The Catawba Indian Nation has put on hold its plans to launch a gaming operation this week, an attorney for the tribe said Tuesday.
The Catawbas have decided to hold off on their gaming plans until after a judge rules in a lawsuit they filed last month seeking the right to build a casino on the York County reservation, said the tribe’s lawyer, Wally Fayssoux of Greenville.
They had planned to start gaming operations before the suit was resolved. In a separate motion, the tribe had asked that law enforcement officers not be allowed to intervene in those operations. A hearing on that request was scheduled for Thursday.
But this week, the Catawbas asked that Thursday’s hearing be canceled. Both sides have expressed a willingness to have the lawsuit decided quickly, said Fayssoux.
In an email to The Herald, Fayssoux added, “the Catawbas have agreed not to open or offer any gaming until the case is heard in court. In the meantime, the Catawba Indian Nation will continue to cooperate with authorities while they pursue their gaming rights,” the statement said.
Catawba Chief Bill Harris wasn’t available by phone Tuesday, but issued the same statement.
A hearing on the lawsuit hasn’t been scheduled.
Last month the Catawbas sued the state and SLED Chief Mark Keel for rights to gamble and build a casino on the reservation, located east of Rock Hill along the Catawba River.
The tribe indicated plans to build a casino and two hotels, with construction starting next year and finishing in 2014. The complex would employ almost 4,000 people during construction and operation, and would bring in more than $100,000 in taxes and fees to the state, according to an economic impact study the tribe commissioned.
Claiming it already has the right to gaming, the tribe also announced plans to have a gaming operation underway before Thursday’s hearing, setting the stage for a showdown with law enforcement.
The casino plans outraged local leaders who have fought gambling in York County and the state. The plans also surprised county officials who have been planning to extend Dave Lyle Boulevard into Lancaster County, creating a multi-lane corridor that would provide greater access to the reservation.
State and local law enforcement officials said they were ready to enforce the law, although they would not say what action, if any, they would take against the tribe if it started gambling operations.
The state laid out its case against the Catawbas’ claims in a brief filed Friday by the Attorney General’s Office, which is representing the state and Keel.
The Catawbas say their gambling rights come from a 1993 settlement agreement between the tribe and state and federal governments. The agreement says the tribe can have gambling “to the same extent the devices are authorized by state law.”
The Catawbas claim a 2005 state law authorizing gambling on cruise boats off the coast of Charleston gives them the right to have the same type of gambling on the reservation.
But in the brief filed Friday, the state refuted the tribe’s reading of the 1993 agreement and its claims about the 2005 Gambling Cruise Act.
The 2005 act only authorizes the operation of gaming machines beyond three miles from the state coast. For the tribe to claim the right to operate the machines on the reservation, the brief said, the devices must be authorized in South Carolina--not outside of its territorial borders.
A statewide ban on video gaming from 2007 also “defeats any right of the Tribe to video gambling on its Reservation,” the brief said.
The state said that if the tribe wants to operate a gambling cruise boat, it has the ability to do so under the 2005 law. But in seeking the right to have similar activities on the reservation, the tribe is asking for rights no one else within the state has.
Fayssoux wouldn’t comment on the state’s arguments.
“I don’t want to comment on the state’s position other than we are extremely confident that the Catawbas have this right,” he said.
Jamie Self 803-329-4062
