Casino projection: Bucks aplenty

By Patricia Lopez

Star Tribune

      Picture a $550 million casino complex development that would yield at least that much revenue annually, create 3,000 jobs and pay $10 million each year to the host community, and you have some idea of the scope of the state-tribal casino deal announced by Gov. Tim Pawlenty on Friday.

      The figures released dwarf earlier projections, with the state getting $164 million a year of profit -- more than it collects in annual cigarette taxes -- from the proposed metro casino, plus a $200 million upfront licensing fee. The Leech Lake, White Earth and Red Lake Chippewa bands, which claim to represent 85 percent of the state's Indian population, would divide $385 million a year. After operating expenses are deducted, the bands' net profit would be comparable to the state's, Pawlenty said. The new casino's location remains undetermined, but Bill Griffith, development counsel for the Mall of America, said Friday that "the Mall of America is open to working with the tribal entities if they acquire a license for a metro-area casino."

      The mall has made plain its interest in making a casino the centerpiece of its Phase II development, and Griffith said Pawlenty's figures "seem more than reasonable, given the tourism drawing power of our site."

      Meanwhile, St. Paul Mayor Randy Kelly said Friday that he doesn't want a casino in the Capital City. The City Council also opposes the idea.

      Echoing Council President Kathy Lantry, the mayor said a casino, card room or gambling riverboat in St. Paul wouldn't fit the city's "family-friendly ... strong neighborhood atmosphere."

      Pawlenty explicitly said for the first time that he also would be receptive to slot machines at the Canterbury Park racetrack in Shakopee -- the so-called racino. "This [deal] does not preclude racino," he said. Given the right circumstances and if all parties agreed, he said, "it could become racino."

      Standing with leaders of the three bands and some of their members, Pawlenty called the agreement a "historic partnership" that would ensure "fairness" for the state and the northern bands, whose remote locations have prevented their casinos from generating the market share of the more dominant casinos, such as Mystic Lake or Grand Casino Mille Lacs.

      Each of those casinos has about 4,000 slot machines, which is how many the state-tribal casino would have. The new one could also feature higher slot machine payouts and additional games, such as live keno, roulette and craps.

      But Doreen Hagen, leader of the Prairie Island Dakota Indian Community, said of the deal, "I'm very disappointed. They have been dividing and conquering us [the Chippewa and Dakota] for centuries, and now history is repeating itself."

      George Goggleye, chairman of the Leech Lake band, said it has been the "victim of geography." His obligation, he said, is to do what he can for future generations. "If I don't prepare for that, I'm not doing my job as a leader," he said. "I will do what I must for the people of Leech Lake."

      Erma Vizenor, a leader of the White Earth band, alluded to the historic nature of the agreement by referring to two large portraits in the governor's reception room that depict momentous events in the often unhappy relationship between whites and Indians in Minnesota. One portrays the 1851 signing of a treaty that conveyed millions of acres from Dakota tribes to European-American pioneers, and the other Father Louis Hennepin's arrival at the Falls of St. Anthony in 1680, at the time as a captive of the Dakota, according to a Minnesota Historical Society pamphlet.

      Tribal leaders, Vizenor said, have "always come with goodwill. ... Today we have that spirit. We are the modern-day chiefs, facing tremendous challenges. We will work vigorously and in unity and we will succeed, because we have fairness, justice and equity on our side."

Fierce opposition

      Opposition to the Gaming Fairness Partnership Agreement remains fierce and is coming from several quarters: a mix of DFL and Republican legislators, religious leaders and the nine bands and tribes of the Minnesota Indian Gaming Association, who say they may mount a legal challenge.

      Among the most scathing reaction came from the chairman of the Fond du Lac Chippewa band, Peter J. Defoe, who said in a prepared statement Friday that in the past, "government treaty negotiators used alcohol, the U.S. Army used blankets infected with smallpox and now you attack our economies, all in an effort to coerce tribal governments to bend to your demands. We reject your immoral plans."

      Thirteen senators, including three Republicans, announced what Sen. John Hottinger, DFL-St. Peter, called their "unalterable opposition" to any gambling expansion on Friday.

      But a rift appeared even at the news conference, when Sen. Bill Belanger, R-Bloomington, said that if the racino comes up for a separate vote, he would have to honor an earlier commitment to vote for it.

      Senate Majority Leader Dean Johnson, DFL-Willmar, said that he would not "shut the door" on anything, but that the proposal "will not have an easy time in the Minnesota Senate." He said he is personally opposed to gambling expansion and considers the whole deal part of the "politics of distraction."