Judge: Detroit casinos can stay open during shutdown
By DAVID EGGERT
The Associated Press
LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Detroit's three casinos can stay open even if state government partially shuts down next week, a judge ruled Friday.
Wayne County Circuit Judge William Giovan's decision reversed a ruling by the Michigan Gaming Control Board. The board said Thursday it would have to suspend the operations of the casinos if state government partially shuts down Monday.
"Putting pressure on the Legislature is not an excuse for torturing our statutes into something that they're not, and that's what happened here," Giovan said Friday. "Putting pressure on the Legislature is not a reason to cause the devastation, and I'm going to call it that, that would have occurred in terms of tax revenues and jobs for people."
State attorneys representing the gaming board were weighing an emergency appeal late Friday, said Matt Frendewey, spokesman for Attorney General Mike Cox. But time was dwindling before the weekend and it appeared likely the casinos would stay open Monday.
"It's a victory for the 7,000 workers at the three Detroit casinos who will not be furloughed," Greektown Casino spokesman Roger Martin said. "It's a victory for public schools in Michigan and public safety programs in the city of Detroit that will continue to benefit from $1 million a day the three casinos pay to them."
Giovan issued a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction blocking the gaming board from suspending operations at the casinos.
Gov. Jennifer Granholm has said casinos would be among the casualties of a partial state shutdown because state employees who monitor and regulate the casinos would be among those temporarily laid off. The plan goes into effect Monday unless lawmakers and Granholm agree on a way to resolve a $1.75 billion projected deficit for the next fiscal year.
State parks, lottery sales, driver's license renewals and liquor distribution are among the other services that could be disrupted.
Michigan law requires that state regulators be onsite daily to monitor operations at the MGM Grand Detroit, Greektown and MotorCity casinos.
Richard Kalm, executive director of the Gaming Control Board, said that without state regulators in place, the integrity of each casino would be at risk when it came to payoffs, security and patrons' safety.
But casino lawyers said their casinos had enough surveillance and security in place that they could operate without state regulators on-site.
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