A new Legislative Reference Bureau study indicates a proposed casino in Kenosha, Wisconsin, to be developed by the Menominee Tribe of Wisconsin and Hard Rock International, would present less financial risk and more benefits than a 2015 casino proposal.
Tribal Chairman Ronald Corn Sr. said, “This new LRB analysis offers more reasons to support and approve the Menominee’s partnership with Hard Rock International for a proposed Kenosha casino and destination entertainment center. As the LRB analysis states, the financial risk in greenlighting this project is significantly less than it was in 2015, and the benefits to the state, to Kenosha and to the Menominee are considerable.”
The tribe’s previous proposal for an $800 million casino project with Hard Rock was rejected by then-Governor Scott Walker on January 23, 2015. Several Wisconsin-based tribes and the Bureau of Indian Affairs supported the Menominee plan, but it was opposed by the Ho-Chunk Nation and the Forest County Potawatomi, which withheld a $25 million payment to the state. Walker stated he was concerned about the state’s obligation to refund estimated payments of more than $243 million to the Forest County Potawatomi.
Since then, an amendment between the Forest County Potawatomi and Wisconsin, passed in 2018, lowers the risk for potential loss of revenue because of lower future payments by either party. The tribal-state gaming compact indicates the state would not be required to refund any of the tribe’s past or future payments; the compact amendment would allow Forest County Potawatomi to place disputed payments into an escrow account, pending a final legal determination.
Corn said, “The bottom line in the LRB report is that the financial risk to the state has been greatly reduced. The Forest County Potawatomi Community had claimed in a 2015 federal lawsuit that the state would need to refund to them an estimated $243 million if the Kenosha project was approved, but that is no longer the case.”
The Wisconsin Indian gaming compact amendments from the late 1990s and early 2000s require tribal casino operators to make annual payments to the state based on gaming revenue in return for exclusivity to offer certain types of gaming.
Corn also stated, “As one of the largest and poorest tribes in Wisconsin, the LRB analysis notes that our people regularly endure the highest rates of poverty and unemployment in the state as well as the lowest ratings of health outcome. Our goal for this major economic development and tourism destination project is to invest in improving and expanding access for our tribal members to health care and education and devote more resources to fighting poverty, hunger and unemployment on our reservation.”
The Oneida Nation and the Stockbridge-Munsee Mohican Nation, neighbors of the Menominee, support the tribe’s proposed casino, as well as a large majority of local residents. However, the Forest County Potawatomi, which operates a casino 40 miles away in Milwaukee, continues to oppose it, according to the Green Bay Press-Gazette.
Potawatomi spokesman George Ermert said, “Potawatomi is opposed to this casino. We’re opposed to a tribe from Florida with no connection to Wisconsin coming into our state and taking millions of dollars and bringing it back to Florida.” Hard Rock International is owned by the Seminole Tribe of Florida.
The Forest County Potawatomi earlier expressed support for a Ho-Chunk casino in Beloit, stating it supports a casino project in development by the Ho-Chunk Nation in Beloit, which could compete with the Potawatomi Casino in Milwaukee, about 80 miles away.
The Menominee casino project still requires years of earning approvals from federal, state and local governments. In July, the Seminole Tribe bought a 60-acre parcel of land, the proposed casino site, for more than $15 million from the Village of Bristol.
The nonpartisan Wisconsin Legislative Reference Bureau provides legal, research and information services to the Wisconsin Legislature.
