Soo tribe backs effort to limit other Indian casinos

Tuesday, Dec. 1, 1998 | 9 a.m.

As early as this week, the Legislature could take up the issue of casino agreements between Gov. John Engler and four Indian tribes. The Sault Tribe now is fighting the same type of pact that enabled it to run five casinos in the Upper Peninsula.

"We're not lobbying against these tribes having their casinos," Sault Tribe spokesman John Hatch told the Detroit Free Press for a story Tuesday. "We're lobbying against the size and locations" of the casinos included in the new agreements.

One of the Sault Tribe's chief concerns is a casino that would be operated by the Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians. It would be just outside Mackinaw City, at the northern tip of the Lower Peninsula.

That new casino likely would draw many Canadian customers who now gamble in the Upper Peninsula. The Ontario government also plans to open a casino in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, that could cut into Sault Tribe profits.

The Sault Tribe also complains that the four tribes attempting to win approval for their compacts have reached agreements with outside companies for financing and expertise. The first seven Michigan tribes that signed compacts with Engler raised their own funds, Hatch said.

Tom Shields, a spokesman for some of the state tribes, said: "The bottom line is these four tribes are federally-recognized tribes. They should have the same opportunity for self-sufficiency as the other tribes. It's the only way to generate their own income."