2.17.08
Be careful not to kill golden casino goose
As federal lawmakers decide whether to approve two new Indian casinos in Michigan -- one in Port Huron and one in Romulus -- they ought to consider the interests of Michigan's largest city and whether more casinos will make the gambling pie bigger or just reduce the size of the pieces.
Revenues from casinos in the Detroit budget are pegged at close to $200 million, and the city depends on the money. Casino taxes have become one of the larger single sources of revenue for Detroit.
City officials fear that new casinos, particularly the one proposed adjacent to Detroit Metropolitan Airport, would drain some of that revenue from Detroit.
Congress is considering whether to approve the transfer of land in Michigan for Indian casinos as part of a long-simmering set of land claims from Indian tribes in the Upper Peninsula. Both former Gov. John Engler and Gov. Jennifer Granholm have signed off on the deal, which would swap the land and casinos in the Lower Peninsula as settlement for the tribal land claims.
Detroit's major political figures -- Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick and U.S. Reps. Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick and John Conyers -- oppose the deal. Some other Michigan congressional delegation members, including John Dingell, D-Dearborn, support it.
But more than political geography plays a role here.
The Indian tribe that owns Detroit's Greektown casino would also own the Romulus casino. Another band of Indians, the Saginaw Chippewas, which owns a casino in Mount Pleasant, opposes this legislation. The MGM casino operation, headquartered in Las Vegas and which operates a casino in Detroit, opposes the deal, as do powerful Nevada politicians.
Casinos were first proposed for Detroit more than a decade ago to help it compete with Windsor, which hosts government-sponsored casinos, and to shore up its ailing economy. Since then, casinos, including Indian operations, have proliferated. In addition to the three casinos in Detroit and gaming operations across the river in Canada, another 17 Indian casinos are sprinkled throughout the state, with more possibly on the way.
And periodically, racetrack owners make a run at the Legislature to install slot machines at their tracks, while the state Lottery has installed Keno games in bars throughout Michigan. Even so, one expert analyst, Jacob Miklojcik, says there is still room for gaming to grow in Michigan -- though he concedes the state may soon reach the saturation point.
Where that point lies should be carefully examined before new casinos are approved. The casinos' revenues have risen in Detroit to $1.3 billion from a bit more than $1 billion in 2001.
Meanwhile, the federal Interior Department and Bureau of Indian Affairs see this legislation as opening the floodgates to bypass them and the Indian Gaming Regulation Act.
With Detroit's political leaders worried about economic damage from the casinos, and the federal agency that regulates Indian affairs worried that this type of legislation could set off a scramble by other tribes to secure off-reservation gaming sites, Congress should handle this bill with care.
It should go slow on this legislation and urge Michigan's leaders to explore other ways of settling the tribes' land claims. The furiously competing political interests, inter-tribal conflict and cross-claims show the dangers of carving out yet more ways to set up casinos.
Find this article at:
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080217/OPINION01/802170302
Revenues from casinos in the Detroit budget are pegged at close to $200 million, and the city depends on the money. Casino taxes have become one of the larger single sources of revenue for Detroit.
City officials fear that new casinos, particularly the one proposed adjacent to Detroit Metropolitan Airport, would drain some of that revenue from Detroit.
Congress is considering whether to approve the transfer of land in Michigan for Indian casinos as part of a long-simmering set of land claims from Indian tribes in the Upper Peninsula. Both former Gov. John Engler and Gov. Jennifer Granholm have signed off on the deal, which would swap the land and casinos in the Lower Peninsula as settlement for the tribal land claims.
Detroit's major political figures -- Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick and U.S. Reps. Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick and John Conyers -- oppose the deal. Some other Michigan congressional delegation members, including John Dingell, D-Dearborn, support it.
But more than political geography plays a role here.
The Indian tribe that owns Detroit's Greektown casino would also own the Romulus casino. Another band of Indians, the Saginaw Chippewas, which owns a casino in Mount Pleasant, opposes this legislation. The MGM casino operation, headquartered in Las Vegas and which operates a casino in Detroit, opposes the deal, as do powerful Nevada politicians.
Casinos were first proposed for Detroit more than a decade ago to help it compete with Windsor, which hosts government-sponsored casinos, and to shore up its ailing economy. Since then, casinos, including Indian operations, have proliferated. In addition to the three casinos in Detroit and gaming operations across the river in Canada, another 17 Indian casinos are sprinkled throughout the state, with more possibly on the way.
And periodically, racetrack owners make a run at the Legislature to install slot machines at their tracks, while the state Lottery has installed Keno games in bars throughout Michigan. Even so, one expert analyst, Jacob Miklojcik, says there is still room for gaming to grow in Michigan -- though he concedes the state may soon reach the saturation point.
Where that point lies should be carefully examined before new casinos are approved. The casinos' revenues have risen in Detroit to $1.3 billion from a bit more than $1 billion in 2001.
Meanwhile, the federal Interior Department and Bureau of Indian Affairs see this legislation as opening the floodgates to bypass them and the Indian Gaming Regulation Act.
With Detroit's political leaders worried about economic damage from the casinos, and the federal agency that regulates Indian affairs worried that this type of legislation could set off a scramble by other tribes to secure off-reservation gaming sites, Congress should handle this bill with care.
It should go slow on this legislation and urge Michigan's leaders to explore other ways of settling the tribes' land claims. The furiously competing political interests, inter-tribal conflict and cross-claims show the dangers of carving out yet more ways to set up casinos.
Find this article at:
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080217/OPINION01/802170302
No comments:
Post a Comment