The Match-E-Be-Nash-She-Wish Band of Pottawatomi Indians, also known as the Gun Lake Tribe, recently concluded its management contract with MPM Enterprises, a joint venture owned by Station Casinos Inc. and an investor group in Mount Pleasant, which operated its Gun Lake Casino in Wayland Township, Michigan. Under federal law, tribal casinos must remove all private managers after seven years of operation.
Tribal Chairman Scott Sprague said, “What the casino has enabled us to do is to fully support the culture” of hunting, fishing and syrup-making. He said the 550 tribal members receive a stipend from casino operations. Without disclosing the amount, Sprague said, “It’s made a big difference in their lives.” The casino employs more than 1,000 people and has generated more than $100 million for state and local governments in the past seven years.
Sprague left a job with an Ohio engineering firm seven years ago to help start the casino. Located halfway between Grand Rapids and Kalamazoo, the Gun Lake Casino features more than 2,000 slot machines, 42 table games, food court, 225-seat café and 300-seat buffet restaurant. Last year the casino added a high limit room and a new bar, part of the second phase of a $76 million expansion. The project also includes a 5-story, 1,200-space parking deck.
The tribe also opened the $4.4 million Noonday Market, a convenience store across the street from the casino. Most of the funding for it came from the partial settlement of the tribe’s claim that the Michigan Lottery violated a 2007 agreement when it began offering online ticket sales and lottery terminals in social clubs. The deal gave the tribe exclusive gaming rights in a 9-county area in return for sharing revenue with the state. Sprague said settlement negotiations are ongoing with Governor Rick Snyder’s staff.
Last October, gaming and hospitality industry veteran Sal Semola was hired as president and chief executive officer at Gun Lake Casino. Semola said the transition to tribal management has been seamless and all but one Station Casinos employee transferred to Gun Lake. He said the federally recognized Gun Lake Tribe is exploring ways to generate new revenue from non-gaming sources.
