The Shoshone-Bannock Tribes of Idaho can offer an unlimited number of Class III games in perpetuity without negotiating a new compact, a federal appeals court ruled on Wednesday.

In a unanimous decision, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the validity of a gaming compact negotiated in 2000. A three-judge panel said the agreement didn't impose a limit on the number of Class III machines the tribes can operate.

The 2000 compact, signed by then-governor Dirk Kempthorne, who is now Secretary of the Interior Department, didn't set a time limit either, the court noted. That means the tribes can offer video gaming machines because state voters approved such gaming in November 2002.

The state claimed that Proposition 1, which passed with 57 percent of the vote, required a new compact. But the court said the language in the ballot initiative automatically entitled the Sho-Bans to video gaming because the other tribes in the state -- the Nez Perce, the Coeur d'Alene and the Kootenai -- were given permission to do so.

"The plain language of [Proposition 1] authorizes the tribes to operate video gaming machines because Idaho permits three other tribes to operate tribal video gaming machines in the state," Judge William C. Canby, Jr. wrote for the majority.

"This plain language leaves no room for negotiation; it mandates an amendment to permit one thing -- the operation of the same games conducted by other tribes under their compacts," Canby added.

The 9th Circuit further said the state can't limit the number of video gaming machines operated by the Sho-Bans. The other tribes voluntarily submitted to conditions in Proposition 1 that restrict the growth of Indian gaming.

"The fact that the [Shoshone-Bannock] Tribes may now be in a technically better position than the other tribes is purely a function of the terms of the compact that Idaho and the Tribes voluntarily entered into" in 2000, the court ruled.

The state can't force the Sho-Bans to share revenues from the video gaming machines either, the court said. "The fact that other tribes have accepted a package of benefits and burdens when they voluntarily amended their compacts does not change the terms of the compact between the [Shoshone-Bannock] Tribes and Idaho," Canby wrote.

The decision is a landslide for the Sho-Bans, who didn't participate in Proposition 1 because the court case had already been filed. The Nez Perce Tribe and the Coeur d'Alene Tribe poured $3 million into the campaign that paid off at the polls when 57 percent of voters approved video gaming machines.

Before Proposition 1, the state and the tribes didn't agree on the types of Class III games that were legal in the state. The ballot initiative settled the question once and for all.

The victory hasn't stopped Idaho Republicans from trying to restrict tribal gaming. After losing at the polls, their latest tactic is a constitutional challenge to Proposition 1.

In the interim, the Sho-Bans asked Kempthorne, who was still governor of Idaho until this year, to consider an off-reservation casino near Boise, the state capitol. "They originally came and said, would you guys allow us to put a casino in these areas and we said 'No,'" Kempthorne's former press secretary told the Associated Press in February.

When Kempthorne was nominated to head the Interior Department in March, most Idaho tribal leaders voiced support. The Sho-Bans were the only ones to express concerns about his views on gaming, sovereignty and other issues.

"He's demonstrated to us that you can't hold him to his word," Chairman Blaine Edmo told The Idaho State Journal in May.

Court Decision:
Idaho v. Shoshone-Bannock Tribes (October 11, 2006)

Federal Register Notice:
Notice of approved Tribal-State Compact (September 8, 2000)

Relevant Links:
Shoshone-Bannock Tribes - http://www.shoshonebannocktribes.com
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