"Certainly in the foreseeable future, I would have to say no, I don't see the Legislature ever legalizing any gambling," says State House Speaker Greg Curtis, R-Sandy.

State Senate President John Valentine, R-Orem, agrees — but says he isn't surprised that the question is asked "because I have actually thought about it. That is because others have come to me and said, 'What about this?' (about such things as allowing gambling in Wendover, Utah). I said I would look into it. I did, and it would be a disaster. There is no such thing as allowing a little gambling — it would likely end up allowing it all over the state."

Gambling's legal hurdles

Salt Lake County District Attorney David Yocom agrees that legalization is unlikely and notes two principal legal reasons.

"First, we have a (state) constitutional provision that prohibits gambling, meaning in order to legalize any form of gambling, we would have to go through a constitutional amendment process," which is difficult — especially when 69 percent of Utahns surveyed oppose legalization, Yocom notes.

"The second problem is that if the state legalizes any form of gambling, then under the (federal) Indian Gaming Act (and Supreme Court decisions), Indian tribes in Utah would have the right to set up their own casinos," Yocom said.

Because of that, Curtis said, "Allowing any form of gambling — like allowing a gaming district in Wendover — would also open up gaming sites (by Indian tribes), possibly throughout the state. We don't want to do that." The U.S. Supreme Court has said the only way to prohibit Indian tribal gaming is to ban all gaming in a state.

Besides possibly allowing Indian gaming, Valentine added that research by his staff shows that allowing one form of gambling in Utah could cause problems with interstate commerce laws — and possibly allow more forms of gaming here. He says it would add ammunition to countries like Antigua that have argued to the World Trade Organization that trade agreements already should force Internet gambling at its sites to be legal in Utah.

Still, Mayor Perry in Wendover laments that his city may die unless the Legislature someday allows a special gaming district there so it can compete with West Wendover. Congress, Utah and Nevada have also considered changing the Utah-Nevada boundary to allow Wendover and West Wendover to merge and thereby share the benefits and costs from gaming.

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