Pokagons, state settle casino funds feud

By DAVID EGGERT, Associated Press Writer

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Pokagons, state settle casino funds feud

(WSBT file photo)

By Beth Boehne

Story Created: Oct 20, 2008 at 4:40 PM EST

Story Updated: Oct 20, 2008 at 4:57 PM EST

LANSING — An American Indian tribe will start giving Michigan a portion of gambling revenues from a new casino in exchange for the right to open two more casinos under a settlement announced Monday.

The Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Indians, which operates the 14-month-old Four Winds Casino Resort in southwest Michigan, had refused to make revenue-sharing payments to the state because it claimed the Michigan Lottery's Club Keno game violated an exclusivity clause in a 1998 compact.

The tribe now will no longer have exclusivity rights and will pay the state for the duration of an amended compact that expires in 2028. In exchange, the state's cut of tribal gambling proceeds will drop from 8 percent to 6 percent.

The tribe also will get the right to develop two "satellite" casinos in southwest Michigan — one in Van Buren County and the other in Cass County, both places the tribe has eligible trust lands. The Four Winds is in New Buffalo Township near the Indiana state line.

Pokagon spokesman Tom Shields said the tribe has not started planning new casinos but eventually may begin talking with local officials.

"Details and plans are a long way off," he said.

The amended agreement, which was announced by the tribe and Gov. Jennifer Granholm, does not need legislative approval. Granholm and the tribe signed it Aug. 14; the federal Bureau of Indian Affairs signed off Sept. 27.

In March, the state settled similar disputes with two other tribes that were withholding revenue-sharing payments.

The latest deal will result in an initial annual payment of $15 million to the state. Local governments will get more than $5 million, and more communities will get a slice of the revenue once a local revenue-sharing board is restructured.

Granholm called the compact changes a "victory" for the state, tribe and local communities.

Pokagon Band chairman John Miller said the agreement "provides an excellent platform to create new opportunities, new jobs and new revenue for our state, communities and the tribe."

Michigan's portion of gambling revenue through tribal compacts peaked at more than $40 million in the late 1990s. Those revenues fell by more than half after the state allowed casinos to open in Detroit, an act some tribes considered a violation of their compacts with state government.

The Club Keno dispute cost the state more money from tribal casinos. Revenue sharing payments dropped to less than $3 million per year in recent years.

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