A reported crowd of more than 1,000 turned out to the Minnesota state capitol on Tuesday to protest a bill that threatens to ban slot machines.

Tribal leaders and tribal members criticized the bill, which calls on tribes to renegotiate their gaming compacts or lose their slot machines. "We created 14,000 jobs in the state of Minnesota. We don't want to lose them," Melanie Benjamin, chief executive of the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe, was quoted as saying.

Several lawmakers addressed the crowd and said they would vote against the Republican-sponsored bill. "I'm telling you that they're going to take Indian gaming away from Indians only if they can pry my cold, dead finger off my 'no' button because I will vote 'no' every time," one was quoted as saying.

Get the Story:
OF THE PEOPLE MINNESOTA GAMING: Tribes protest casino proposals (The St. Paul Pioneer Press 3/10)
Hundreds of tribal members gather at Capitol to protest gambling bills (AP 3/10)
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