Greektown Casino announces Nov. 10 opening date

Lisa M. Collins

Monday, Aug. 28, 2000 | 9:02 a.m.

DETROIT - Detroit's Greektown Casino expects to open for business on Nov. 10, pending final approval from the state.

Casino spokesman Roger Martin said Sunday there is a ninety-five percent chance Detroit's third temporary casino will open on the second Friday in November.

"From all indications, we're expecting final state approval soon," Martin said.

The opening date was first announced Sunday morning by Michael Mecca, chief operating officer of the casino, on Detroit-area radio station WWJ. The casino will throw a charity event, VIP party and practice play events the week before the opening, Martin said.

The Michigan Gaming Control Board will hold a hearing Sept. 5 to determine final approval for the casino's state license. The board had delayed granting the license for months because of problems that had surfaced with the financial backgrounds of the casino's part owners.

But earlier this month, the board approved a plan for two Greek couples to sell their 40 percent stake in the casino. Under the plan, the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians, located in the Upper Peninsula, will own 90 percent of the $150 million gaming hall.

The property transfer is worth more than $200 million over 10 years. The tribe plans to sell 10 percent of its ownership to local minorities.

The 28,000-member Indian tribe already owns five casinos in northern Michigan, but it will be the first tribe in the country to operate a casino that isn't on a reservation, according to Martin.

And it will be doing so roughly 350 miles from its reservation in a city where it has little political clout and faces stiff competition from casinos run by some of Las Vegas' biggest companies.

The huge dollar amounts have also stirred trouble within tribal ranks.

Bonnie McKerchie, who ran unsuccessfully for a tribal board seat in June, said she thinks the tribe has committed too much to the Greektown Casino.

"It's too risky," she told the Detroit Free Press for a Monday story. "A lot of members didn't want Greektown, but we weren't asked. We have five casinos; a less-risky investment would have been fine. This isn't a Monopoly game."

Others are upset that the tribe put up as collateral one of its new trust funds, a $19.7 million federal land-claims settlement that pays every elder $1,200 a year. Tribal leaders promised to put $10 million in casino profits into the fund.

Tribal Chairman Bernard Bouschor said he's confident the Greektown casino will do better than some people expect because he thinks it has the best location among Detroit-area casinos.

Greektown Casino is located in the heart of Greektown in downtown Detroit. It will feature 2,400 slot machines and 104 game tables in 75,000 square feet of Mediterranean-themed space, a release from the casino stated.

It will be the third Detroit casino after MGM Grand, owned by MGM MIRAGE and MotorCity, owned by Mandalay Resort Group. All three casinos are slated to move to permanent sites along the Detroit River within four years, and the city of Detroit is trying to acquire property for that move.

Greektown Casino will employ 2,400 people, Martin said. Already 22,000 have interviewed and 1,800 have been given temporary licenses for gaming work from the state.

The site is mostly complete, and only "spic and span" work is left, Martin said.