Residents embrace tribe’s bingo proposal

Pamela Hamilton

Friday, Sept. 5, 2003 | 9:35 a.m.

SANTEE, S.C. -- Little by little, Patsy Clemons has watched this sleepy tourist town off Interstate 95 begin waking up during the past 20 years as new golfing and fishing attractions opened.

A local shop owner, Clemons says a new bingo hall that promises to bring as many as 1,000 jobs and hundreds of tourists might be just what the town needs to complete its awakening.

The Catawba Indian Nation has proposed building a high-stakes bingo hall in Santee, but the tribe has run into opposition from politicians who think the bingo hall eventually might turn into a full-fledged casino.

In Orangeburg County, where about one in nine people were unemployed during the past year, many residents say they can only see the good.

"It'll help us, or it'll hurt us," said Clemons, who owns Goodies & Gifts Shoppe in an outlet mall where the Catawbas hope to place the bingo hall, their second in South Carolina. "And it can't hurt us because we're already hurting anyway."

Off Interstate 95, the outlet mall is a prime spot for a bingo hall to snag tourists along the Eastern corridor, says Catawba Chief Gilbert Blue. But in order for a bingo hall here to be lucrative, it must be regulated by the federal government, rather than the state, Blue says.

Pending federal legislation would place the tribe under the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act and the Catawbas would be able to pursue Class II gaming, allowing them to build a high-stakes bingo hall.

With the Class II designation, the hall could stay open 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The tribe also could offer bigger jackpots by linking its bingo operation to those in other states, similar to the state's Powerball game.

Gov. Mark Sanford fears a federally regulated bingo hall could lead to casino gambling, classified as Class III gaming.

"The fundamental concern is that this is clearly a state issue that, per the terms of the 1993 agreement, ought to be dealt with in the General Assembly not via some end around the state's authority to keep Class III gaming outside of South Carolina," Sanford's spokesman Will Folks said Friday. "You don't just squeeze the state out of that process."

Folks acknowledged that Sanford may not have much control over the decision, though. "The possibility for Class III gaming coming to South Carolina is the governor's concern on the issue, but that's up to the U.S. Congress," Folks said.

Several Republican members of South Carolina's congressional delegation, including Sen. Lindsey Graham and Reps. Jim DeMint and Gresham Barrett, also have expressed concerns over the legislation.

The Catawbas have included language in the federal legislation that bars them from seeking Class III gaming.

"Our thoughts are only to open a Class II bingo facility in Santee," Blue said. "We have no hidden agendas or no secrets."

The Santee outlet mall sits in the center of about 80 acres the Catawbas hope to turn into federally regulated tribal property. For the past two years, the mall has been dying slowly as large chain stores leave and traffic declines, shop owners say.

"For the last three or four years, this place has been about half-dead," Clemons said. Her business has plummeted by 30 percent to 40 percent in two years.

About 13 stores remain in the mall, and the bingo hall would replace unoccupied space. Clemons and other owners envision bingo players spilling into the outlet stores. The tribe also plans restaurants and, possibly, a hotel.

Blue says the hall could employ as many as 1,000 workers -- all making 10 percent to 15 percent more than the average salary in Santee. And though federal regulation would free the tribe from state taxes, Blue says he's talked to schools, fire departments and other government entities about contributing somehow.

In Rock Hill, at the tribe's first bingo hall, employees make from $7 to $12 an hour, depending on their experience and job description, said General Manager Julie Phillips. That bingo hall employs 50 full-time and 25 part-time workers.

Under state regulation, Rock Hill can pay out no more than $100,000 per day and stay open six days a week, 12 hours a day.

Just three years ago, before the state created a lottery, the hall employed as many as 125 people, Phillips said. The lottery and more relaxed rules allowing other bingo operations in the state to offer bigger jackpots have cut into the Catawbas' bingo revenue and hurt their competitive advantage, Blue said.

The tribe made about $34.6 million in gross revenue at its Rock Hill bingo parlor between 1999 and 2001 and paid nearly $3.5 million to the state in taxes during that time, according to a recently completed state audit.

But since the creation of the state lottery in 2000, revenue have declined 60 percent, said Jay Bender, an attorney for the tribe.

When the Catawbas settled with the state in 1993, the goal of the agreement was to allow the tribe to create "highly competitive super bingo," Bender said.

"The state has taken actions to hurt Catawba, but when Catawba wants to resume its position ... the state wants to turn its back," he said.

Store owner Gloria Nancollas hopes the bingo hall eventually will land a spot in the Santee outlet mall, despite the governor's opposition.

"The governor is a Republican," Nancollas said. "He's covering himself by saying, 'I did fight this in the beginning.' But in the end, it's going to go through. It's all politics."