22
Opinion of the Court
has significant control over the issuance, renewal, suspension, and revocation of licenses.
Without doubt, Louisiana has a substantial economic stake in the video poker industry. The State collects an upfront "processing fee" for each new license application, La. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 27:311(H)(2) (West Supp. 2000) ($10,000 for truck stops), a separate "processing fee" for each renewal application, § 27:311(H)(4) ($1,000 for truck stops), an "annual fee" from each device owner, § 27:311(A)(4) ($2,000), an additional "device operation" fee, § 27:311(A)(5)(c) ($1,000 for truck stops), and, most importantly, a fixed percentage of net revenue from each video poker device, § 27:311(D)(1)(b) (32.5% for truck stops). It is hardly evident, however, why these tolls should make video poker licenses "property" in the hands of the State. The State receives the lion's share of its expected revenue not while the licenses remain in its own hands, but only after they have been issued to licensees. Licenses pre-issuance do not generate an ongoing stream of revenue. At most, they entitle the State to collect a processing fee from applicants for new licenses. Were an entitlement of this order sufficient to establish a state property right, one could scarcely avoid the conclusion that States have property rights in any license or permit requiring an upfront fee, including drivers' licenses, medical licenses, and fishing and hunting licenses. Such licenses, as the Government itself concedes, are "purely regulatory." Tr. of Oral Arg. 24-25.
Tellingly, as to the character of Louisiana's stake in its video poker licenses, the Government nowhere alleges that Cleveland defrauded the State of any money to which the State was entitled by law. Indeed, there is no dispute that TSG paid the State of Louisiana its proper share of revenue, which totaled more than $1.2 million, between 1993 and 1995. If Cleveland defrauded the State of "property," the nature of that property cannot be economic.
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