The Menominee Casino Resort in Keshena, Wisconsin, the state’s first Las Vegas-style casino, is a conglomeration of additions to the original casino building, but it’s the tribe’s main source of revenue. In 2012, the tribe transferred .4 million from gaming operations into its general fund to cover more than three-quarters of all government spending. Jim Reiter, general manager of the Keshena casino, said, “For a tribe as large as ours and a casino as small as ours, the gap in expenses is pretty considerable. We do all we can at our smaller level but we do need a boost of some sort.”
Tribal leaders hope that boost will be a proposed $800 million, off-reservation Hard Rock Casino in Kenosha, which has been approved by the federal government but requires Governor Scott Walker’s approval. The casino would attract customers from southeastern Wisconsin and neighboring Illinois.
Walker’s office hired the Michigan law firm Dykma Gossett earlier this year for $500,000 to help the governor determine if he should approve the Menominee’s proposed Kenosha casino. Now that law firm recently hired the California law firm Nathan Associates Inc. for $140,000 to conduct a financial review of the Kenosha casino. The Menominee and the Forest County Potawatomi tribe, which oppose the casino, have made conflicting claims about the Kenosha casino’s impact on existing facilities and local economies. Walker, who has final approval of the casino, has been considering the issue since last October.
The new casino could allow the tribe to boost its per capital payments from about $75 in 2012, according to audited reports. At the other end of the spectrum, the Forest County Potawatomi community, whose casinos generated $226 million in profit in 2012, made per capital payments of about $80,000 per member. The Ho-Chunk Tribe comes in second with $12,000 per capita payments.
Potawatomi officials said their per capita payments represent sound reinvestment of gaming revenue over 25 years. However, they noted the Menominee’s Kenosha casino could cut revenue at their successful Milwaukee casino by 20 percent.
Menominee leaders take a different approach regarding per capita payments. They said even if the tribe could afford to make large payments, they wouldn’t do it. Gary Besaw, a Menominee tribal legislator, said, “To have that money is dangerous for immature people. You buy a big car, crash it, and say, ‘Well that’s okay, I’ll go buy another.’ It’s easy to get in a cycle of partying or drugs. We don’t want that here.”
A 2008 study conducted by the Harvard Project on American Indian Economic Development confirms Besaw’s concerns: “Where payments are modest, much of the money is spent on school clothes, paying off debts, Christmas presents for the kids, general living expenses, home repairs, and so forth. Funds may not be spent on building wealth, but they may not be flowing to personally or socially damaging alternatives either.”
If the Kenosha casino is approved, the Menominee said they will spend gaming revenue on human and social services, including college scholarships. Officials predict the facility would add $300 million annually to the tribe’s revenues by its 10th year.
