BOISE, Idaho - State leaders have rejected a request from the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes to consider an off-reservation casino near Boise, raising the stakes as the two sides head to court in an ongoing battle over Indian gaming.

The upcoming arguments before the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals this spring over whether the Shoshone-Bannocks can use video gambling machines is one of multiple fronts in the battle over tribal casinos in Idaho.

Republican legislative leaders also plan a separate challenge to the constitutionality of a 2002 voter initiative that authorized casino-style gambling by Indian tribes.

Tribal officials say Idaho's challenges are part of a national campaign by states to clamp down on the growth of Indian gaming, which last year raked in $20 billion nationally, including $1.8 billion from the 44 Indian gaming operations in Idaho, Oregon, Washington and Alaska, which is limited to tribal bingo halls and pull-tab shops.

"No one dreamed this industry would mature as quickly as it did," said William Bacon, an attorney with the Shoshone-Bannocks. "The states are now putting pressure on the feds to either allow them to get a share of the money or to rein this situation in."

Some state legislators complain that the video gambling machines on Idaho reservations are merely electronic versions of the slot machines banned in the state constitution. They also worry that pressure to expand existing casinos to off-reservation locations is growing.

"This is what we feared would happen," said Rep. Maxine Bell, R-Jerome, part of an antigambling group. "It will always be an issue with those of us who do not want the state to be made into a gambling Mecca."

The growth of Idaho's Indian casinos has been limited to operations on reservation land in Fort Hall, Worley, Lapwai, Kamiah and Bonners Ferry. The Shoshone-Bannocks' plan for a new casino in Twin Falls, Mountain Home or near Boise was the first off-reservation casino proposed since then-Gov. Phil Batt rejected the Coeur d'Alene Tribe's plan for a casino in Post Falls nearly a decade ago.

Under federal Indian gaming laws, tribes may open casinos outside reservation boundaries if the Secretary of Interior concludes it would benefit both the tribe and surrounding community and if the governor concurs.

The Shoshone-Bannocks' proposal to open a casino hundreds of miles away from their Fort Hall reservation in the state's populous southwestern corner came during secret meetings with the state last year. State and tribal officials only recently acknowledged the discussions in response to questions from The Associated Press.

Bacon said tribal leaders made the request to Gov. Dirk Kempthorne's staff after learning that the Northwest Band of Shoshone - a Utah tribe that is not recognized by the federal government and has no designated reservation - planned to seek Idaho's support to open a casino near the southeastern Idaho town of Malad.

"If the state of Idaho would allow a tribe that does not even have a reservation to open a casino in what once was their home turf, wouldn't that same right be applied to other tribes?" Bacon said. "We wanted to make our intentions known that what's good for the goose is good for the gander."

Leaders of the Northwest Band of Shoshone, which in 2003 acquired 26 acres of land near the Idaho town of Preston at the site of an 1863 massacre, did not respond to requests for comment from The Associated Press.

Kempthorne's office confirmed the Shoshone-Bannocks asked for, but did not get, the governor's concurrence for a casino closer to Boise.

"They originally came and said, would you guys allow us to put a casino in these areas and we said 'No,"' said Mike Journee, Kempthorne's press secretary.

The tribe also failed to get the governor to approve a fallback position - the exclusive right to operate Indian gambling in southern Idaho, Journee and Bacon both confirmed.

Without the governor's blessing, the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes likely won't get far in any effort to expand gaming beyond Fort Hall, said Randy Sitton, Portland-based regional director of the National Indian Gaming Commission.

"They would need the concurrence of the governor and even after that it's not a giveaway, because it would still be subject to approval by the Secretary of the Interior," he said.

Bacon said the tribe's push to expand off the Fort Hall reservation was not retaliation for the state's current legal challenge to the Shoshone-Bannocks' right to use video gambling machines.

That case - scheduled for arguments before 9th Circuit in April - seeks to overturn a 2004 decision that found the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes did not have to renegotiate the 2000 gaming compact signed by Kempthorne in order to install the machines. U.S. District Judge B. Lynn Winmill ruled that the Shoshone-Bannocks automatically got the right to the machines when three other Idaho tribes were allowed to install similar devices.

But unlike the Shoshone-Bannocks, the gaming compacts signed by the Coeur d'Alene, Nez Perce and Kootenai tribes limit the number of machines and require the tribes to contribute 5 percent of their annual gaming revenue to local schools.

The state argues that Winmill's ruling gives the Shoshone-Bannocks Tribes advantages not enjoyed by other tribes.

The Shoshone-Bannocks, meanwhile, argue that the state is simply trying to cut itself a slice of the tribe's action.

"What they really want is to get their finger in the pie, or if not that, then they want to limit our gaming," Bacon said.

Idaho's Indian casinos

Four of the five federally recognized Indian tribes in Idaho operate casino-style gambling businesses under gaming compacts with the state. Only the Duck Valley Shoshone-Paiute Tribe, whose reservation straddles the Idaho-Nevada border, has no gaming operation. Here are details of Idaho's four tribal gaming operations:

* COEUR D'ALENE TRIBE - Operates the Coeur d'Alene Casino north of Worley, which has 2,000 video gambling machines, off-track betting and high-stakes bingo. The resort has expanded five times at a estimated cost of $100 million since opening in 1993.

* NEZ PERCE TRIBE - Operates the Clearwater River Casino near Lapwai, which has 400 video lottery terminals and high-stakes bingo, and the It'se Ye-Ye Casino in Kamiah with over 100 video lottery terminals. Broke ground in September to build a new casino and hotel next to existing facility and plans to add 500 video gambling machines.

* KOOTENAI TRIBE - Operates the Kootenai River Casino in Bonners Ferry, which has 400 video gambling machines. Last year a renovation adding a spa and additional hotel rooms was completed.

* SHOSHONE-BANNOCK TRIBES - Operates the Fort Hall Casino in Fort Hall, which has 950 video gambling machines, plus high-stakes bingo. Also operates the nearby Bannock Peak Casino, which has approximately 65 video pull tab machines. The casino recently added an RV park, larger parking lot and a $730,000 electronic billboard sign.