Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker recently said he will not make a decision regarding the Menominee Tribe’s proposed 0 million Hard Rock Casino in Kenosha until well after the November elections. He said, “Our standpoint is we are going to take the full amount of time. The federal government took nine years.”
Walker’s original deadline was this month, but the federal government granted him a six-month extension until February to study the economic and jobs impact of a new casino. Walker said he’s also concerned about a potential budget shortfall if he allows the casino, since other tribes could stop making payments to the state if a casino is approved without their approval. “We don’t want a big budget hole but we want to find a way to add more jobs in the state,” Walker said. However, the Menominees have said they would make up any shortfall in the state budget. The Potawatomi and Ho-Chunk oppose the Kenosha casino.
Walker’s Democratic opponent, Mary Burke, questioned his delay in making a decision about the casino. Her Communications Director Joe Zepecki said, “Mary would have moved swiftly to get the independent analysis.” He added if the economic studies indicate a significant increase in jobs, “she would support” the casino.
Meanwhile, in its latest expansion, the Potawatomi Bingo Casino in Milwaukee recently opened its new 19-story, 381-room hotel, which led to the property’s new name: Potawatomi Hotel & Casino.
The hotel space also features a new restaurant, a lobby bar and lounge, a coffee bar and more than 12,000 square feet of new meeting space. The property also offers a gaming floor with 3,000 slot machines and 100 table games, plus a 1,350-seat bingo hall, six restaurants and a 500-seat theater.
Potawatomi Hotel & Casino General Manager Mike Goodrich said, “Adding a hotel to this property will allow us to show our brand of exciting entertainment to a much wider audience. With the addition of lodging, our property will now be at the forefront of destination casinos. It will also serve as another reason for people to visit the Milwaukee area.”
Paul Upchurch, president and chief executive officer of VISIT Milwaukee, the city’s convention and visitors bureau, added, “Potawatomi Hotel & Casino continues its track record of playing a vital role in the region’s tourism picture. For nearly a quarter century, the tribe has shown incredible dedication to the region with hundreds of millions of dollars in investment, and, in doing so, helping to create a new entertainment and visitor corridor in Milwaukee’s Menomonee Valley.”
In Madison, another Wisconsin casino remains open, although it appears to be offering games that are not allowed under the law. Ho-Chunk Gaming Madison lost a court battle in June when U.S. District Judge Barbara Crabb sided with the state and ruled Ho-Chunk must stop offering poker on its electronic tables. In Wisconsin, poker on traditional tables is considered Class III games, but the casino, which is considered a bingo hall and not a casino, argued they are Class II games and permissible under the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act of 1988.
Richard Monette, a University of Wisconsin-Madison law professor and director of the Great Lakes Indian Law Center, said, “The logic of the wording of the amendment is that if there’s no law governing a game in question, it’s against the law to use the game unless the legislature says otherwise. In other words, the amendment says we can’t gamble unless the legislature says we can. That flies in the face of logic of everything else we do in this state. It’s anti-democratic and anti-Wisconsin.”
