The Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe Indians announced it will move the Palace Casino Hotel from its current rural location to a larger, more visible site, three miles away near Cass Lake, Minnesota. Nearly three million cars pass the new site beside the Paul Bunyan Expressway annually. The tribe also operates Northern Lights Casino in Walker and White Oak in Deer River.
The Palace Casino Hotel opened in the early 1980s and is in need of repair, said Leech Lake Tribal Council Chairman Faron Jackson. He added the new facility will cost $45 million, including a waterpark, and will employ up to 500 people. “We’ve been talking about a new casino here for a couple of years because the current building is in need of so many repairs. The Palace itself wasn’t an original gaming building when it was established. It was made into one in the early-1980s and was remodeled but it wasn’t built as a casino.”
Jackson stated, “We want to be competitive with gaming here. We want to add more square footage and a water park. We want a cleaner building that’s more updated–one that can attract more customers to come visit our gaming establishment or shows.”
The tribal council earlier conducted a feasibility study for the new facility. Construction is expected to begin in spring 2018 and be completed in early 2019.
