Column: Non-compete clause promises big bucks

Friday, October 1, 2004  

"Chicago pol Morgan Murphy Jr. is rolling the dice one last time in his never-ending quest to score some big bucks by turning Kenosha into a casino town.

The former Illinois congressman's company, Nii-Jii Entertainment, is barely breathing and has almost nothing in the bank. But that won't stop this group from trying to collect on its failed attempt to open a casino at Kenosha's Dairyland Greyhound Park.

You see, while its bid went down in flames, Murphy & Co. salvaged one golden asset - a non-compete clause preventing the Menominee tribe from teaming up with anybody else to operate a Kenosha casino.

That could be a huge problem for the Menominee tribe in its latest effort to open an off-reservation casino. In January, the tribe hooked up with the Mohegan tribe, which runs a successful Connecticut casino, and local trucking magnate Dennis Troha, who is also a Nii-Jii shareholder.

Sources say Nii-Jii initially asked the Menominee for tens of millions of dollars to go away, though a negotiated payment in the $10 million neighborhood seems more realistic."

Get the Story:
Spivak & Bice: Trying to win big off failed casino project (The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel 10/1)