LANSING, MI (WKZO) – The State Capitol wants a casino, but it’s going to take a lot more than luck to make it happen. It’s going to take lawyers and lots of them. The Nottawaseppi Hurons and the Saginaw tribes say it would be illegal to have land near the Lansing Convention Center declared sovereign territory and they are prepared to sue.
Spokesman James Nye says the two tribes that run FireKeeper’s near Battle Creek and the Gun Lake Casino near Wayland say it would violate their exclusivity clauses with the State of Michigan, costing the state 22-million dollars annually in revenue sharing payments.
Lansing Mayor Virg Bernero says revenues from the Casino would help set up a college fund like the Kalamazoo Promise for Lansing students. Eventually the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe and Bernero would have to get a compact from the legislature, and that may also present a problem.
Bernero says he thinks they can put it together in 2-years, but it took the Gun Lake Tribe the better part of a decade and a Supreme Court Decision to finally get their building permit.
