Claims disputed in lawsuit over tribal gaming

Jenny Price

Tuesday, Jan. 14, 2003 | 9:21 a.m.

MADISON, Wis. -- A dog track suing the state to stop the governor from renewing tribal gaming compacts has no evidence to show that it would profit if Wisconsin had no Indian casinos, attorneys for the state Justice Department argued in court papers filed Monday.

Dairyland Greyhound Park's lawsuit claims the Wisconsin Constitution, as amended in 1993, outlaws casino gambling.

That amendment clarified that all types of gambling are prohibited in the state except bingo, raffles, pari-mutuel on-track betting and the state-run lottery.

"After the demise of its own attempt to profit from the very gaming activities it contends are illegal ... Dairyland brought this suit seeking to terminate the entire Indian gaming industry in Wisconsin," state attorneys wrote in court papers seeking to get the case dismissed.

They also argued Dairyland filed its lawsuit too late, nearly a decade after state voters approved the constitutional amendment.

Indian tribes operate 17 casinos in Wisconsin under 11 compacts, the first of which expires in May. The state has maintained the casinos are operating on legitimate extensions of compacts signed a decade ago.

The state claims the decline of racetrack betting is a national phenomenon and casinos in Illinois and Iowa are also to blame for Dairyland's financial troubles.

Attorneys for the state also wrote:

The amendment was not intended to protect the competitive interest of racetracks, which means Dairyland does not have the right to sue.

Indian gaming accounts for 35,000 jobs in the state and is the "mainstay of the economies of Wisconsin's 11 tribes."

Dairyland cannot show the amendment was intended to affect terms of existing gaming compacts.

The state said the Legislature included language in the budget bill it passed after the amendment was approved that contained detailed statutory provisions on how the state would spend gaming revenue and require background checks on Indian gaming employees.

"The Legislature clearly contemplated the continuation, rather than the termination, of Indian gaming," the state wrote.

Dairyland attorney Ronald Ragatz did not immediately return a telephone message the Associated Press left at his law office late Monday.

The 4th District Court of Appeals reinstated Dairyland's lawsuit against the governor last September. The decision overturned Dane County Circuit Judge John C. Albert's ruling dismissing Dairyland's claim because it failed to name the tribes in its lawsuit.

Only two of the five dog tracks that opened in 1991 in the state are still running, including Dairyland in Kenosha. Dairyland's annual revenues have dropped by 50 percent since then.

Lawyers for the Kenosha dog track had asked the state Supreme Court to take the case, saying there was not enough time to litigate the dispute before the gambling agreements are up for renewal.

A hearing in the lawsuit is scheduled Jan. 31.