01:43 PM EST on Friday, December 5, 2003

Associated Press

ROCK HILL, S.C. -- A group of York County lawmakers trying to keep the Catawba Indian Nation from bringing video gambling to its South Carolina reservation.

"Video poker is illegal. This is an attempt to bring big-time gambling back to South Carolina, and we don't want it," Sen. Wes Hayes, R-Rock Hill, said at a news conference Thursday.

The Catawbas say they will consider the gambling operation on their land in the southeastern corner of York County only if their bid for a high-stakes bingo hall in Santee is stopped. Gov. Mark Sanford and others have said they are against the 24-hour-a-day bingo operation near Interstate 95.

The tribe said it needs additional revenue because it has lost money since the South Carolina Educational Lottery began two years ago.

But lawmakers want the tribe to know they will fight any additional gambling in the county just like they fought three years ago when the games were banned in the state.

"I don't want to fight this fight again but absolutely, I will," Rep. Becky Richardson, R-Fort Mill, said. "If this battle heats up, I'll heat up too."

Catawbas spokesman Jason Snyder said the Santee bingo hall is the tribe's first choice, but the York County plans provide them with another option.

"We agree that we don't want video poker back in York County, but it's clear to us we have the right," Snyder said.

Richardson and Hayes were joined Thursday by two other lawmakers and members of the South Carolina Baptist Convention. The convention fought to ban video gambling in the state several years ago and hasn't changed its mind.

"We're going to be strong in defending family values," state Baptist Convention President Wayne Dickard said.

The tribe opened its first and only bingo parlor in Rock Hill in 1997, four years after signing a settlement to end a major land dispute with the state and other governments.

The latest flap has angered some Catawbas, who think South Carolina is sticking its nose where it doesn't belong.

"The state did not oversee the settlement act the way they were supposed to," Deborah Crisco said. "Once the settlement act was complete, we were just pushed to the side and they forgot about us."