A grand opening celebration—including traditional drumming and a pig roast—was held August 8 at the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe’s new $50 million Cedar Lakes Casino and Hotel in Cass Lake, Minnesota. Leech Lake Gaming Division Director Mike Auger said, “We want people to have a big-city, Vegas-like experience here in northern Minnesota.”
Auger said the property’s blue-themed design reflects the area’s numerous lakes. The name comes from the upper and lower Red Cedar Lakes, the Ojibwe’s’ original names for the nearby lakes. The complex includes a gaming floor, 100-room hotel, food court, brew pub, arcade, gift shop, indoor pool and event center and will employ 400 people, 100 more than the Palace Casino, which it replaced..
Augur said the casino “came in on time and within the budget. The casino will drive revenues for the band for years to come and will be a huge economic boon for the area. It will help improve Cass Lake and the surrounding region.”
The new property is expected to attract visitors from the Highway 2 corridor, which is traveled by 3 million cars annually, according to a tribal study.
The Palace Casino, which closed July 22, wasn’t built to be a casino, Augur said, but was remodeled into one in the 1980s. The tribe also operates the Northern Lights Casino in Walker and the White Oak Casino in Deer River.
