Tim Ryan, tryan@wolfrivermedia.com
An expanded Ho-Chunk casino in Wittenberg would deprive the Stockbridge-Munsee tribe of $22 million in annual revenue from its gaming facilities, according to a newly released independent marketing and feasibility study.
The study also found that the Menominee casino in Keshena would lose $4.3 million annually.
The Ho-Chunk tribe announced last summer its plans for a new 86-room hotel, 84-seat restaurant and bar, expanded gaming floor, nonsmoking casino area and high-limit area. The plans include an additional 272 slot machines and 10 new table games.
The tribe broke ground in September on the $153 million expansion of what is currently an ancillary facility in the town of Wittenberg into a full-blown casino resort. It is expected to be completed this fall.
The Stockbridge-Munsee casino is about 17 miles east of the Ho-Chunk Wittenberg facility.
According to the study, the casino gambling market is completely saturated in Wisconsin, particularly in the northern part of the state.
The study found that seven tribal nations will face a combined $37 million annual loss from what those tribes maintain is an illegal expansion under existing compacts with the state.
The projected loss for the Stockbridge-Munsee’s North Star Casino in Bowler represents 37 percent of its gaming machine revenue, according to the study.
The study by Chicago-based Market and Feasibility Advisors LLC looked only at the impact on machine revenue.
The study also projects a $5.2 million loss for Oneida Nation casinos, a $3.4 million loss for Chippewa casinos and a $1.8 million loss for Potawatomi casinos.
“The Stockbridge-Munsee Band of Mohican Indians and other tribes are calling upon Governor Walker and his Administration to fairly enforce state gaming compacts for all tribes and put a stop to the unlawful Ho-Chunk Wittenberg expansion from an ancillary facility to a full-blown casino resort,” the tribe’s public relations firm, Reputation Partners LLC, said in a statement.
The tribe said it wants the state to stop the Ho-Chunk project and was demanding the state seek an Indian Lands Opinion on the Wittenberg land parcel from the National Indian Gaming Commission.
“The North Star Mohican Casino Resort is the economic lifeblood of our tribe and the largest employer in Shawano County, but that is now all at grave and unnecessary risk,” said Shannon Holsey, president of the Stockbridge-Munsee Tribal Council.
“The Ho-Chunk currently operate four of the state’s 10 largest casinos,” Holsey said. “With the state of Wisconsin refusing to enforce the terms of its compact and allowing unfettered, unsanctioned expansion, Ho-Chunk will eventually have five of the state’s 10 largest under its control. This will not grow the Wisconsin economy, but will instead take revenues from other, far smaller tribes. How can this be allowed to continue?”
Dennis Puzz, a lawyer for the Stockbridge-Munsee, said the tribe was reviewing all of its options, including the possibility of filing a lawsuit.
The state Department of Administration determined in September that the expansion of the Wittenberg facility does not violate the tribe’s compact with the state. The DOA said it has not yet seen the new study.
In a joint letter in September, state Sen. Robert Cowles, R-Green Bay, and state Rep. Gary Tauchen, R-Bonduel, urged state officials to deny the Ho-Chunk expansion, saying it violated the Wisconsin Gaming Compact of 1992.
They argued the Ho-Chunk Nation was limited to running an ancillary facility in Shawano County and not a gaming facility.
A Ho-Chunk Nation spokesperson could not be reached for comment.