The United States Supreme Court recently decided it will hear a case to determine if the state of Michigan has any power to shut down an American Indian casino.
The decision of the court could impact the potential casino investors have wanted to build in downtown Lansing for close to two years.
The Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of the Chippewa Indians initially agreed to build a $245 million casino before a federal court issued an injunction in March preventing the tribe from applying to the U.S. Department of the Interior to use the land. The casino has remained in limbo ever since.
The benefits of a casino far outweigh whatever the concerns are against building it. The casino, which would be built in the heart of Lansing, would both create jobs and bring in revenue for the downtown.
Downtown Lansing, besides the baseball stadium and a bar district, does not feature many sites for people to visit. The casino adds another dimension to the downtown to attract tourists to spend their money.
The casino would do this and also provide a service for both the people of Lansing and East Lansing, where there isn’t much to see in the downtown either.
If people come to either city, it’s a great opportunity for both to bring in revenue, especially in the fall. If people come in for a home football game, they can spend time in East Lansing’s downtown as well as going to Lansing for the casino.
One concern people might have is the morality issue of having a casino so close to the people in the downtown, and how they might develop gambling problems if they’re living so close to one.
It’s an argument in which people will say, “If some will be affected, that means everyone will be affected.”
It’s a matter of self-control, and if somebody doesn’t have it to where they’ll spend all their money at a casino, it shouldn’t mean everyone else should be deprived of it.
A conservative-majority Supreme Court most likely will rule in favor of the casino, speeding along the process of building one in downtown Lansing. Although the negatives of the casino are valid, the economic factor of this deal is a great positive for a downtown with not a lot to see.
Jobs are something Lansing — and the state of Michigan in general — need right now and both the revenue from the casino and visitors going both there and other sites in the downtown will be a great opportunity for the surrounding area.
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