In response to the Stockbridge-Munsee Band of Mohicans’ lawsuit to stop the Ho-Chunk Nation from expanding its Wittenberg, Wisconsin casino, Ho-Chunk Special Counsel Lester Marston wrote in a letter the suit was “frivolous” and added the Stockbridge-Munsee’s efforts “have damaged inter-tribal relations and tribal solidarity. At the same time, it has given ammunition to opponents of Indian gaming who seek to portray tribal gaming as unfair, dishonest and contrary to the interests of the citizens of Wisconsin.”
Stockbridge-Munsee spokeswoman Megan Hakes, responding to Marston’s letter, said the tribe has not changed its position and will move forward with the lawsuit to seek a fair resolution.
After months of asking Governor Scott Walker’s administration to interpret its Indian gaming compact with the Ho-Chunk as not allowing the Wittenberg expansion, the Stockbridge-Munsee recently filed the federal lawsuit against the Ho-Chunk, Walker and the state. The tribe also has threatened to withhold nearly $1 million in gambling revenues it must pay the state by June 30.
The Stockbridge-Munsee claim the Wittenberg facility is considered ancillary in the Ho-Chunk’s gaming compact, historically defined as no table games, hotel or restaurant. Last year, the Ho-Chunk broke ground on a $33 million expansion that will increase the number of slot machines from 506 to 778, add an area with high-limit gaming and 10 table games and construct an 86-room hotel and 84-seat restaurant and bar.
“That clearly does not match the definition of an ancillary gaming facility, and former Department of Administration officials are on record saying as much. We had hoped that Governor Walker and this administration would heed our and other tribes’ requests for fair compact enforcement so that this matter could be resolved without litigation, but we now have no other option,” Stockbridge-Munsee Tribal Council president Shannon Holsey said in a statement.
The project is scheduled to be completed this year. The Stockbridge-Munsee said the Ho-Chunk expansion, located less than 20 miles from its North Star casino-resort, could steal gamblers and cause the tribe to lose $22 million a year. The Stockbridge-Munsee lawsuit seeks to stop the expansion from moving forward until the dispute is resolved.
The Walker administration said the current compact allows gambling to cover up to half of the Wittenberg location before it is no longer ancillary. Steven Michels, communications director for the state Department of Administration, said, “The state of Wisconsin has been consistent honoring the compacts with all tribes in Wisconsin. Under the terms of the Ho-Chunk Compact, as amended in 2003 by the Doyle administration, the Ho-Chunk are authorized to conduct gaming in Wittenberg.”
Marston added, “The fact that the Wittenberg project might reduce the market share of the North Star Mohican Casino Resort is simply a reality of a highly competitive gaming market. Rather than engaging in futile efforts to convince state officials that the Wittenberg project is in violation of the Nation’s compact and to damage the nation’s reputation, the band should invest its resources in making its gaming facility more competitive and, therefore, more profitable.”
Ho-Chunk President Wilfrid Cleveland added, “We are prepared to safeguard our interests and are confident we’ll be successful in court and finally be able to resolve this issue.”
