COLUMBIA -- The Catawba Indian Nation's push to offer electronic gambling took a hit Monday when the South Carolina Supreme Court ruled a state ban on video poker also applies to the tribe.

The Catawbas, South Carolina's only federally recognized tribe, argued their 1993 land deal with the state allowed them to put video poker machines on their reservation, despite a statewide ban in 2000.

The state contends the land deal means the tribe's reservation falls under state, not federal, gambling laws. State Attorney General Henry McMaster, who appealed a lower court's decision in favor of the tribe, said the higher court made "a sound decision."

Catawba attorney Jay Bender called the ruling a setback, but he expects the U.S. Supreme Court to eventually decide the case.

"The question is, does this tribe have the right to exercise sovereignty to operate video poker as a government just as the state of South Carolina operates the lottery as a government?" Bender said.

Sen. Wes Hayes, an attorney and leading gambling opponent, said he doubts the U.S. Supreme Court would rule against the state high court's unanimous decision, while a spokesman for Gov. Mark Sanford said the ruling was important to keep video poker from returning to South Carolina.

The tribe has said it doesn't necessarily want to put video gambling machines on its York County reservation about 25 miles south of Charlotte, N.C. But the Catawbas had hoped to use a favorable court ruling as a bargaining chip to build a high-stakes bingo parlor south of Columbia along Interstate 95.

Local officials want the bingo facility and the estimated 1,800 jobs it would bring to the rural area. But many lawmakers, including Sanford, oppose the idea. The Catawbas sued the state after bills allowing the Santee facility repeatedly failed in the General Assembly. The idea died again in committee last year.

The Catawbas say a new bingo parlor is critical to their future. The tribe said its York County bingo hall began losing money after the state lottery started in 2002. The Catawbas were forced to shut down the operation and have since sold the hall and the surrounding property in Rock Hill.

The tribe's 1993 settlement, which gave the Catawbas $50 million and federal recognition in exchange for relinquishing claims to 144,000 acres, also allowed the Catawbas to operate bingo games in two locations.

But legislative approval is needed for the Santee facility because the Catawbas want to link it electronically to other tribal bingo halls nationwide to offer bigger payments, Bender said. He likened it to a multistate lottery game, such as Powerball, which the state participates in.

But Hayes called the proposed bingo hall a huge casino with games resembling video poker.

"They call it bingo, but that's in name only," said the Rock Hill Republican. "It will be much bigger gambling than anything we've seen in South Carolina before. There's a reason we voted video poker out. It's the crack cocaine of gambling."

Even if the state Supreme Court had ruled in the tribe's favor, Hayes said he would continue to oppose an electronic bingo hall anywhere in the state. The ruling only adds to the tribe's already significant hurdles, he said.

Chief Gilbert Blue, who announced over the weekend he would not seek re-election after leading the tribe for more than three decades, said he thought the settlement clearly allowed video gambling.

The high court also offered good news to the tribe, ruling the state cannot impose an $18 per person fee on the tribe's bingo players. The state created the fee in 1998 without the tribe's consent, the court said.

"This is a significant opportunity on bingo," said tribe attorney Dwight Drake. Taking away the fee could make bingo profitable again for the tribe, he said.

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