The Kewadin Casinos are a set of

casino A casino is a facility for certain types of gambling. Casinos are often built near or combined with hotels, resorts, restaurants, retail shopping, cruise ships, and other tourist attractions. Some casinos are also known for hosting live entertai ...

s located in the US state of

Michigan Michigan () is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the List of U.S. states and ...

. The casinos are owned by the federally recognized

Sault Tribe of Chippewa Indians The Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians (pronounced "Soo Saint Marie", oj, Baawiting Anishinaabeg), commonly shortened to Sault Tribe of Chippewa Indians or the more colloquial Soo Tribe, is a federally recognized Native American tribe in ...

. The primary property is located in Sault Ste. Marie, with additional locations on tribal lands in

Christmas Christmas is an annual festival commemorating the birth of Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a religious and cultural celebration among billions of people around the world. A feast central to the Christian liturgical year ...

Hessel The Hessel is a , right tributary of the Ems (river), River Ems in the territory of the North Rhine-Westphalian districts of Kreis Gütersloh, Gütersloh and Kreis Warendorf, Warendorf in northwest Germany. The river rises northwest of Halle (W ...

, Manistique, and

St. Ignace St. Ignace is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan and the county seat of Mackinac County. The city had a population of 2,452 at the 2010 census. St. Ignace Township is located just to the north of the city, but the two are administered auto ...

History

In the 1980s, Native American activists carved out new areas of sovereignty. With federal law, they could establish gaming casinos on sovereign tribal land, in states that allowed gambling. The states and tribes generally agreed to compacts for some revenue sharing. In some cases, early facilities featured little more than bingo halls. In 1984, the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians Board of Directors voted to open Kewadin Casinos.

Initial casinos in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan

Kewadin Casinos opened its Sault Ste. Marie property in November 1985, originally as a one-room blackjack house. In 1987, Kewadin Casinos opened Kewadin Shores Casino–St. Ignace. In 1994, Kewadin Casinos opened casinos in

, Kewadin Casino–Hessel, and Manistique.

Greektown Casino Hotel

Until 2008, the Tribe owned a majority interest in

Greektown Casino Hotel Hollywood Casino at Greektown, formerly Greektown Casino-Hotel, is a casino hotel in the Greektown neighborhood in Detroit, Michigan. It is owned by Vici Properties and operated by Penn Entertainment. The casino opened in 2000, under the major ...

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at t ...

, which opened in 2000. It was one of three casinos authorized by the legislature in 1996 for operation in Detroit as a means for the city to generate revenues. This casino did not operate under the Kewadin name. Due to financial problems related to the 2008

Great Recession The Great Recession was a period of marked general decline, i.e. a recession, observed in national economies globally that occurred from late 2007 into 2009. The scale and timing of the recession varied from country to country (see map). At ...

, the tribe filed for bankruptcy protection for the Greektown casino. In 2010 it sold its interest and has since focused on developing properties in Upper Michigan.

Lansing Kewadin Casino

On January 19, 2012, Kewadin Casinos and Mayor of Lansing,

Virgil Bernero Virgil Paul "Virg" Bernero (born March 31, 1964) is an American politician and former mayor of Lansing, Michigan, elected on November 8, 2005, and re-elected on November 3, 2009. He is a member of the Democratic Party. Prior to serving as mayor ...

, announced plans for a $245 million casino to be built in Downtown Lansing's entertainment district. Plans called for the opening of a temporary casino until a facility was completed on land owned by the City of Lansing. It was to be purchased by the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians. The proposed urban modern-themed casino would be located at Michigan Avenue and Cedar Street, adjacent to the

Lansing Center Lansing Center, officially the Lansing Convention Center, is the primary and largest convention center in Lansing, Michigan Michigan () is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, upper Mi ...

, on land the tribe would purchase from the city and have taken into trust on its behalf by the Department of Interior. The casino would include up to 3,000 slot machines, 48 table games, bars, and restaurants. The plan was approved by the Lansing City Council on March 19, 2012, and the Tribe in May 2012. The Lansing casino was opposed by the

Michigan Attorney General The Attorney General of the State of Michigan is the fourth-ranking official in the U.S. state of Michigan. The officeholder is elected statewide in the November general election alongside the governor, lieutenant governor, secretary of state, m ...

, who filed a lawsuit in September 2012 to block the project. He argues that the casino violated federal law and a gaming compact between the Sault Chippewa and the state of Michigan. A federal judge issued an injunction on the project in April 2013 in response to the suit. This was lifted in December 2013 by a federal appeals court, which ruled that the lower court did not have jurisdiction and should not have issued the injunction. In May 2014, the Supreme Court of the United States ruled against the State of Michigan in a related case regarding an off-reservation casino opened by the

Bay Mills Indian Community The Bay Mills Indian Community (BMIC) (Ojibwe: Gnoozhekaaning, lit. "Place of the Pike"), is an Indian reservation forming the land base of one of the many federally recognized Sault Ste. Marie bands of Chippewa (aka Ojibwa). The largest section ...

. It said that tribes had sovereign immunity from state regulation. As a result, the Michigan Attorney General dropped his appeal to the Supreme Court of the United States regarding the injunction on the Lansing casino project. The original lawsuit remained in a federal court, under charges by the Attorney General that tribal officials had violated the conditions of a Michigan gaming compact with the tribes. In June 2014, the tribe requested that the

United States Department of the Interior The United States Department of the Interior (DOI) is one of the executive departments of the U.S. federal government headquartered at the Main Interior Building, located at 1849 C Street NW in Washington, D.C. It is responsible for the ma ...

take the land into trust that they had purchased for the Lansing casino. Approval by the

United States Secretary of the Interior The United States secretary of the interior is the head of the United States Department of the Interior. The secretary and the Department of the Interior are responsible for the management and conservation of most federal land along with natur ...

of such action is required by the 1997 Michigan Land Claims Settlement Act. , the application is pending. On September 16, 2015, U.S. District Judge Robert Jonker ruled that the tribe did not violate any laws by submitting this application to the Department of Interior. In December 2017, however, the Department of Interior rejected the application to take this property into trust, halting the casino project. It contended that under the 1934 Indian Reorganization Act, it could not take into trust land that tribes acquired after the act with later federal recognition.

Detroit Metropolitan Airport casino

In June 2014, the tribe indicated it was considering a casino on a property to be acquired near the

Detroit Metropolitan Airport Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport , usually called Detroit Metro Airport, Metro Airport, or simply DTW, is a major international airport in the United States covering effective December 30, 2021. in Romulus, Michigan. It is the primary ...

Properties

Current properties

As of 2019, Kewadin Casinos includes these properties:

Proposed properties

Kewadin Casinos has official proposed these properties:

Past properties

Kewadin Casinos was previously involved with these properties:

Marketing

The casinos use a

loyalty program A loyalty program is a marketing strategy designed to encourage customers to continue to shop at or use the services of a business associated with the program. Today, such programs cover most types of commerce, each having varying features and ...

for customers, known as the Northern Rewards Club.

References

External links

* * {{Casinos in Michigan Casinos in Michigan Casino hotels Native American casinos 1984 establishments in Michigan