The Milwaukee-Wisconsin Journal Sentinel reported on Friday, January 23 that Wisconsin
Governor Scott Walker has denied the request of the Menominee Tribe to open an
off-reservation casino in Kenosha. The project had been endorsed by Kenosha
County but faced strong opposition from the Potawatomi and Ho-Chunk Tribes, who
believed a Kenosha casino would harm their existing casino operations.
The Menominee Tribe has been seeking approval for a Kenosha
casino for more than a decade. In 2005, former Wisconsin Governor Jim Doyle
signed a compact with the Potawatomi Tribe requiring that the tribe be
reimbursed for any loss of business stemming from approval of the Kenosha
casino proposal. Governor Walker cited this requirement as one of the major
reasons for his decision to deny the Menominee Tribe's request.
State officials expressed the fear that state taxpayers
might be on the hook for that reimbursement, even though the Menonimee Tribe
had pledged a $200 million bond to cover any losses incurred by the competing
tribes.
Federal law requires that proposals for off-reservation casinos
be approved by the Department of Interior Bureau of Indian Affairs as well as
by the Governor in the affected state. Governors have virtual veto power over
the opening of any proposed off-reservation tribal casino.
MIGA Executive Director John McCarthy said that MIGA tribes
adopted a resolution opposing any expansion of gaming, including
off-reservation casinos, in 1992 and have maintained that position ever since.
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