From the Business Review Western Michigan:
Amendments to the Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Indians’s gaming compact will give the state an immediate $15 million and give the tribe the right to open limited satellite casinos in Hartford and Dowagiac, Gov. Jennifer Granholm’s office announced today.
The amended compact resolves issues between the state of Michigan and the tribe that led to the Pokagon Band’s withholding revenue-sharing payments to the state for most of the 14 months its Four Winds Casino in New Buffalo Township has been open.
The band contended the state’s Club Keno game eliminated the tribe’s exclusive rights to operate electronic games of chance. The exclusivity provision was deleted from the amended compact. As a result of this change, the band immediately will make an initial annual payment of more than $15 million to the state.
Similar disputes between the Little River Band of Ottawa Indians and the Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians were resolved earlier this year. Amendments to compacts do not require approval of the state legislature.
The amendments to the 1998 compact extend the life of the compact from 2018 to 2028, to ensure a full 20 years, as the original compact intended, according to the joint announcement. A series of lawsuits delayed the casino’s opening to August 2008.
The two satellite sites must be on eligible Indian lands in Van Buren County and Cass County. The Van Buren site must be either in the city of Hartford, Hartford Township or Bangor Township. The Cass site must be in either the city of Dowagiac, or Pokagon, Silver Creek, LaGrange or Wayne townships.
Each satellite location will be allowed no more than 1,000 slot machines. Each site must have local approval either by the governing body of the community, a public referendum or other means satisfactory to the governor.
The Four Winds Casino in New Buffalo Township will pay 6 percent instead of 8 percent of slots, but the satellite casinos will pay 8 percent of net slot revenues to the state. Payments to local revenue-sharing boards remain at 2 percent of net slot revenues.
Instead of a flat $50,000 per year, the Band will pay the Michigan Gaming Control Board the larger of either $50,000 or .05 percent of the net slot win, for oversight.
Turtle Talk 