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Indians weigh casino issue

Tuesday, April 10, 2001 | 10:57 a.m.

WORLEY, Idaho -- The Coeur d'Alene tribe has commissioned a public opinion poll to gauge voter support of a possible ballot initiative to clearly legalize electronic gambling machines now being used in reservation casinos.

The poll, which Tribal Gaming Chief Executive David Matheson said will be reviewed in two weeks, followed rejection by the state Senate last month of Gov. Dirk Kempthorne's revised gambling compact with the three Northern Idaho tribes. The agreements legalized the machines but limited future growth to 15 percent over 10 years in return for the state getting 5 percent of the casino profits.

The deals, more than a year in the making, collapsed because of intense anti-gambling sentiment, problems with covering eastern Idaho's Shoshone-Bannock Tribes and some political maneuvering.

The legislative rejection leaves the fate of about 3,000 machines in reservation casinos up to the federal courts -- a process Kempthorne predicted would take years during which machines could be added without limit.

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