WASHINGTON -- Sen. John Ensign is blocking legislation sought by Hawaii leaders to permit sovereignty rights for the state's natives, contending the bill could lead to legalized gambling on the islands and expanded gaming on the mainland.

Hawaii Gov. Linda Lingle visited Ensign on Tuesday after the Nevada Republican placed a hold on a Native Hawaiian bill that Lingle and the state's two senators are trying to bring before the Senate.

Hawaii is one of only two states without legalized gambling. Utah is the other. Ensign said he wanted to make sure that Hawaii natives would not be allowed to invoke any new rights to open casinos.

Further, he said he feared Native Hawaiians would purchase mainland property and use claims of sovereignty to establish gaming establishments. Some American Indian tribes, who enjoy similar sovereignty, have used "off-reservation" procedures to expand their gaming reach.

Ensign cited an example of an Alaska native corporation seeking to win approval to build a casino near Denver International Airport. Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, also has promoted bills that would allow Alaska native entities to open casinos in the lower 48 states.

"We have to not only prevent (gaming) from happening in Hawaii, but we have to prevent this in Denver and other state lands in trust in other places."

The Hawaii bill, written by Sen. Daniel Akaka, D-Hawaii, forbids native Hawaiians from getting involved in gaming. Ensign said the language "is too loose."

The Native Hawaiian bill "won't come forward unless we can have assurances that in the language, gaming will not be part of the legislation," Ensign said.

Ensign said he was working with Akaka and Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., and the Department of Justice to make the bill tougher on gaming.

Las Vegas is a popular destination for Hawaiians; Hawaii ranked 12th last year among markets supplying tourists and gamblers, the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority reports.

Convention authority figures show 411,313 people traveled from Hawaii in 2004.

Analysts for the American Gaming Association have reviewed the Hawaii bill and did not see cause for casino industry alarm, communications director Holly Thomsen said.

"The bill doesn't seem to imply that Hawaiians outside of Hawaii would be able to do anything, so it doesn't seem to have anything to do with what we do," Thomsen said.

Thomsen said the association tends to stay neutral on Indian sovereignty matters unless they affect the federal law that regulates Indian gaming.

Ensign was not the only senator holding up the Native Hawaiian bill for one reason or another, and Lingle also was visiting other critics to address their concerns.

Lingle said Ensign was the only one who expressed a concern about gambling.

Lingle emerged from the meeting saying she would work with Ensign to amend the bill to his liking.

"I told him our positions in this are identical," she said. "He doesn't want gambling in Hawaii. I don't want gambling in Hawaii. Our senators feel the same way.

"If people feel it needs to be even stronger to ensure we don't have gambling in our state, then I'm very supportive of that."