The Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Indians has started construction on a poker room with 10 electronic tables at nine people per table at its Four Winds Casino in South Bend, Indiana by the Labor Day weekend. The move follows a favorable legal opinion from the National Indian Gaming Commission. The NIGC in January said installing Gamblit Poker LIVE! will allow the casino to remain in the Class II category; typically, poker and other card games only may be offered with a Class III compact. However, the tribe does not have a compact with Indiana. Poker is legal in Indiana.
Four Winds Chief Operating Officer Frank Freedman said, “Guests have absolutely been asking for poker since we first announced our opening. Now that we’re established, we are eager to begin construction on what will be a really exciting, well-rounded poker room. For fans of the game, it will offer something for everyone.”
Four Winds South Bend General Manager Scott Rice added, “We look for different venue hours, different menus, the latest and greatest games that are coming. So as we put the tables back in the northwest corner we will rearrange the floor to open it up a little bit and we will still keep our guests’ favorite games out there.”
Four Winds South Bend opened earlier this year on a 166-acre site that was taken into federal trust under the Obama administration, making it the first Native American casino in Indiana. The tribe operates three casinos in Michigan under the Four Winds brand.
