Thursday, Jan. 8, 2004 | 9:28 a.m.
MADISON, Wis. -- The owners of a Kenosha dog track will still pursue a lawsuit claiming the state constitution bans casino-style gambling, despite reaching an agreement to sell the track for $40.5 million to an Indian tribe that wants to build a casino there.
Roy Berger, executive vice president of Dairyland Greyhound Park, acknowledged Wednesday that pursuing the court action that could overturn gaming statewide could jeopardize the project.
A spokeswoman for the Menominee Nation also said the lawsuit could threaten the tribe's plans, but said leaders were not concerned it would succeed.
Berger said track owners won't drop the case because it's possible the casino project won't go through. If that's the case, Dairyland hopes the court's ruling will allow tracks to operate casino-style games to level the playing field with Indian casinos.
Berger said if the lawsuit succeeds, state residents could decide by referendum whether they want to legalize casinos.
"All along we went into this thing not with the intent to stop Native American gaming, but the intent for equity," he said.
The track's lawsuit, scheduled for oral arguments before the Wisconsin Supreme Court on Jan. 27, was filed in 2001.
The suit claims the Wisconsin Constitution, as amended in 1993, outlaws casino gambling. The amendment clarified that all types of gambling are prohibited in the state except bingo, raffles, pari-mutuel on-track betting and the state-run lottery.
The track's investors unanimously approved the sale option Tuesday, but the Menominee Nation's plan is contingent on local, state and federal approval. The purchase option expires in 2008, but Berger said track owners could not pursue their own casino project before then, even if they win the lawsuit.
Brenna Kriviskey Sadler, a spokeswoman for the tribe, said members don't agree with the lawsuit and believe it will fail.
"They feel that the court will not rule in favor of the track on this issue and that they are still in a a very good position to build a facility down there," Sadler said.
Tribes and developers have viewed the track, near Interstate 94 in Kenosha County, as a potentially lucrative casino site. The proposed casino complex would still include live dog racing.
A previous Menominee plan to build a casino failed in 2001 after gambling opponent and former Gov. Scott McCallum said he wouldn't approve it.
Gov. Jim Doyle must approve the proposal before the federal government can give final approval. Dan Leistikow, the governor's spokesman, said Doyle had not made any decision.
"The governor will have to consider it if and when it comes to him," Leistikow said. "It's a long way to go yet."
Menominee Tribal Chairwoman Joan Delabreau said the casino would bring thousands of jobs to Kenosha and hundreds of thousands of visitors to the area.
"Jobs are always important to the community. Any time we can pull in jobs we're interested in that," Kenosha Mayor John Antaramian said.
The tribe is working with Kenosha businessman Dennis Troha, who will act as the casino's developer and put millions of dollars into preliminary work on the project. Troha was an investor in the previous casino proposal.
Connecticut's Mohegan Tribe, which runs a casino in that state, will also lend money to the project and sit on the casino's development board but would not be considered a casino investor.
Troha declined to tell the Kenosha News, which first reported the deal Wednesday, how much money he expects to spend on the casino's development plans.
The Forest County Potawatomi tribe, which runs a casino in downtown Milwaukee that would be a competitor of a Dairyland casino, issued a statement expressing surprise that the track's owner would try to transform it into a casino while pursuing the legal action attempting to prove casinos to be illegal.
"If there is an award for chutzpah, we would like to make a nomination," the statement said. "Imagine someone selling you a snowmobile for $40.5 million while trying to convince the state that snowmobiles ought to be illegal."
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