Mayor announces plans for Lansing casino, education fund

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A newly proposed casino in downtown Lansing is expected to add to the city’s nightlife and help create a scholarship program to send students to college, Lansing officials announced Monday.

Lansing Mayor Virg Bernero spoke to more than 100 people at a press conference Monday morning in the Lansing Center, 333 E. Michigan Ave., Lansing, to announce a proposal for the Kewadin Lansing Casino, a partnership with the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians to raise revenue for services and education.

The tribe lost ownership of Detroit’s Greektown Casino Hotel after it filed for bankruptcy in 2009, according to the Detroit Free Press.

Bernero called the $245 million investment a “bold new effort” slated to create more than 2,200 jobs through the construction and operation processes.

Construction on the casino, which will be located at Michigan Avenue and Cedar Street, will begin after development agreements between the city of Lansing and the Sault Tribe are approved.

After breaking ground, construction is expected to take 14-18 months.

Sault Tribe Chairman Joe Eitrem said the revenue created by the casino — which will be owned and operated by the Sault Tribe — will go toward health care, education and public safety services within the tribe, but he added the project will have economic benefits to both the tribe and the city of Lansing.

Bernero said about $6 million of the casino’s estimated $250 million annual revenue will go toward creating a Lansing Promise scholarship program — similar to the Kalamazoo Promise — that will provide full funding for students who graduate from the Lansing school district and continue to a public college or university in the state.

Mark Alley, former Lansing police chief and founder of Lansing’s H.O.P.E. Scholarship Program, said the Lansing Promise takes scholarships to the next level, offering scholarships for four full years of higher education for Lansing school district graduates.

“If you want to make your community better, you educate your young people,” Alley said.
But Lansing resident and premedical sophomore Adam Bezinque said creating scholarships from casino revenue does not sound beneficial.

Bezinque said the addictive nature of gambling can cause problems for many people and shouldn’t serve as the source for students’ scholarships.

Bernero also said he wants the casino to help turn Lansing into a destination for visitors from across the state.

“There are challenges going in,” Bernero said. “It won’t happen overnight, we know that.”

Although city officials have faith in the project’s success, others aren’t so sure.

Matthew Fletcher, law professor and director of the Indigenous Law & Policy Center at MSU, said the tribe faces political, legal and economic opposition to the casino’s construction.

Because the casino is not located near the tribe’s land, it is harder to pass legal hurdles to even begin the development process, Fletcher said.

The tribe has to be approved by state senators and representatives, Gov. Rick Snyder and the U.S. Department of the Interior before any work can begin.

Bernero said the project also needs approval from the Lansing City Council.

Fletcher said the casino will create significant revenue for the tribe but it often ends up paying more for an off-reservation casino than one at home.

Bezinque said revenue for the city is a good thing, but a surplus of visitors to the city might not help the city’s economy as a whole.

“Revitalizing the city with a casino (isn’t) seen in a good light in my eyes,” Bezinque said.

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