As a result of a lower court’s recent ruling that would allow the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians to open its proposed Kewadin Lansing casino, Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette announced he will ask the U.S. Supreme Court to stay that decision until the high court rules in the Michigan vs. Bay Mills Indian Community. That closely watched case concerns a state’s authority to stop tribes from opening casinos on off-reservation property. The high court is expected to issue a ruling on the case this spring. State officials believe the Bay Mills decision will have ramifications for the Lansing casino. The state has until May 14 to file its petition.
Last week, the U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati denied Michigan’s request for a new hearing, saying it would not reconsider its December decision siding with the Sault tribe. A three-judge panel said a federal district judge in Grand Rapids should not have granted Schuette an injunction in 2012 since no gaming had started. The state had requested a new hearing before the entire appellate bench, not just a panel of judges. Schuette spokeswoman Joy Yearout said, “We’re disappointed in the decision.”
The tribe acquired the site for the proposed Lansing Kewadin Casino through the Michigan Indian Land Claims Settlement Act. The $245 million, 125,000 square foot Kewadin Lansing create an estimated 2,200 jobs, including 700 in construction. A portion of gaming revenue would help fund a scholarship for Lansing high school students.
Lansing Mayor Virg Bernero has been working with the Sault tribe to bring a casino to Lansing for more than two years He said, “From the beginning, we have said it would be a long road to victory for our casino, and that we would have to go through a complex and sustained legal process to make it happen. Our predictions were accurate in that regard, and we remain confident that we will prevail.”
The Sault Ste. Marie Tribe also has a connection to Greektown Casino-Hotel in Detroit, which is about to undergo a $125 million renovation. The original owners of Greektown, tribe estimates it spent about $100 million on the property in the decade before it entered bankruptcy. A consortium of mostly out-of-town investors took control of Greektown while it was in bankruptcy. Quicken Loans founder Dan Gilbert t bought it last spring through his company Rock Gaming, which owns two of Ohio’s four new casinos and will open another in downtown Baltimore later this year.
The smallest of Detroit’s three casinos, with just under 25 percent of market share, Greektown lost nearly $31 million in 2013 and expects another deficit year in 2014. The casino has not reported a profit since it emerged from bankruptcy in June 2010.
Greektown renovations will start later this year and be completed in 2016. “We are planning to create a more open, spacious and inviting atmosphere as well as enhance our gaming offering, which we believe will enable us to attract new patrons and drive increased customer loyalty,” a recent report said.
Last year, total gambling revenues in the Detroit casino market dropped 4.7 percent to $1.35 billion. Analysts believe the new Hollywood Casino Toledo is partially responsible for that decline.
And in Battle Creek, the Nottawaseppi Huron Band of the Potawatomi recently contributed $5.3 million to local municipalities and schools. That figure represents 2 percent of the annual slot machine revenue at FireKeepers Casino Hotel, up from $4.9 million in 2013. The tribe also paid $16,565,604 to the state of Michigan.
Since opening in 2009, the casino has contributed $21.9 million to the Revenue Sharing Board and $58 million to the state. The tribe opened a resort-style hotel in December 2012.
