Opinion: Stop gambling with the Catawba Nation

Monday, July 30, 2007  

"A new push for Catawba bingo is on in Marion, to get beach traffic. The anti-gamblers again are spoiling for a fight. Where are the politicians who agreedto bingo 14 years ago?

The only legal gambling money now is a state-sponsored lottery, and a huge chunk, billions, goes into state coffers. Politicians don't want to share the gambling money.

New Catawba Chief Donald Rodgers said he wants the tribe to look at new venues for York County bingo. I hope he includes near Interstate 77 at the state line in Fort Mill Township.

I live close by, and let me be the first in line to say I hope the Catawbas get it.

Maybe a huge place, golden domed, lined inside with retirees from Charlotte and other places dropping their kids' inheritance one bingo card at a time. Maybe they could run a bus, slow, the few miles from the huge Sun City Carolina Lakes retirement community in Lancaster County's panhandle.

When the settlement was agreed to in 1993, there was no state lottery. Billions have been spent in the past few years on games of chance. Fort Mill lottery retailers rake in the dough. The state line is where the money is.

Right now, the tribe has no bingo, no source of income, no potential jobs for its people."

Get the Story:
Andrew Dys: Time to quit gambling with future of Catawbas (The Rock Hill Herald 7/28)