American Indians plan for casino could gut northwest Indiana gaming

The Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Indians recently reached revenue-sharing and infrastructure financing agreements with local officials in New Buffalo Township, Mich. The Pokagons plan to open a 164,000-square-foot casino on 700 acres just 10 miles from the Indiana state line.

Tribal leaders estimate they would draw at least 4 million gamblers a year and generate more than $100 million in annual profits. At that scale, the Pokagons would have the second-largest casino in the Midwest - larger than all the northwest Indiana boats.

For Chicago area gamblers - the main customer base for northwest Indiana riverboats - the drive to the Pokagon casino would be just a few minutes longer.

Indiana Gaming Commission Director Jack Thar told a casino industry conference last fall in Detroit that the Pokagon proposal poses a much greater threat to Hoosier casino profits than the Illinois boats.

Indiana lawmakers and casino operators spent the last seven months focused primarily on the damage done to Indiana gambling profits and taxes by Illinois riverboats that are no longer required to cruise. Lifting the cruising requirements in Illinois allowed casinos there to admit more passengers more often and to squeeze them for longer periods of time.

Hoosier casino companies were able to blunt the impact of the Illinois boats by convincing Indiana lawmakers to lift the state's cruising requirements. But there appears to be nothing northwest Indiana casinos or government officials can do to minimize the Pokagon proposal.

American Indian tribes are generally recognized as sovereign nations under U.S. law, which means state and local governments have little ability to challenge or prohibit them from pursuing economic development projects on land under their control.

The Pokagons have been working on their casino proposal for six years, much of it spent waiting for federal and state government approval of various plans. Earlier this month, the band expanded the size of the proposal and moved it closer to the Indiana state line.

Tribal leaders recently said they don't expect to open for business before late 2001.

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