A federal court judge likely will decide within the next 30 days whether Lansing will be home to a new casino, said a Michigan Attorney General spokeswoman.
Spokeswoman Joy Yearout said the judge heard testimony from both tribal and state lawyers last Wednesday as they argued about the fate of the $245 million dollar Lansing casino project.
About one year ago, Lansing Mayor Virg Bernero announced the city, in collaboration with the Sault St. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians, plans to build the Kewadin Lansing Casino at Michigan Avenue and Cedar Street.
Attorney General Bill Schuette filed a lawsuit against the project last May, claiming building a casino more than 150 miles from the tribe’s reservation would violate both state and federal law.
Director of MSU’s Indigenous Law and Policy Center Matthew Fletcher said the tribe might be eyeing Lansing because its casinos in the Upper Peninsula aren’t making much money.
“There’s nobody who lives up here,” he said. “The gaming only makes money when you’re in an actual populated area.”
S. Peter Manning, chief of the Michigan division of environment, natural resources and agriculture, wrote a letter Casino Ltr.pdf on behalf of the Attorney General voicing his opposition to the project. In the letter, he stated the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act was not intended to allow tribes to open a casino wherever they wanted to without abiding by rules.
“We will take whatever steps are necessary to preclude the opening and operation of a casino,” the letter said.
Executive director of MSU’s Vegas Night T.J. McDermott said other than Soaring Eagle Casino and Resort in Mount Pleasant, Mich., there aren’t many places for students to gamble near East Lansing.
As a hospitality business junior, he said a casino could provide other students in his major jobs and a better understanding of how casinos operate.
“I think more good is definitely going to come from it than bad, especially in terms of jobs and for students,” he said.
Bernero sold one parcel of land to the tribe in early November and said the casino will bring more than 2,200 jobs to the city.
But Yearout said a casino wouldn’t be enough to turn the state’s financial status around.
“Michigan already has more than 20 casinos across the state,” she said. “If casino gaming (was) the answer to our economy’s woes, it would be a very rich state.”
Fletcher said officials continue to push the project despite opposition from the Attorney General because of potential for economic development, tax revenue and more people heading downtown.
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