Ho-Chunk Nation steers casino funds to local community

Thursday, April 29, 2010  

The Ho-Chunk Nation of Wisconsin is making use of an amendment to its Class III gaming compact with the state.

The tribe has always shared a portion of its revenues with the state. But a 2003 amendment allows the tribe to steer the money to local communities.

For every acre of trust land, the tribe can can pay $1,000 to a county for every acre of its trust land. The amount is then deducted from the tribe's payment to the state. According to The Jackson County Chronicle, that comes to $2 million a year.

"The Ho-Chunk Nation always strives to support local communities throughout Wisconsin,” Vice President Dan Brown told The Jackson County Chronicle. “During these tough economic times, we hope these payments will help spur economic development, ignite success for many local businesses and improve neighborhoods."

The tribe has trust land in 12 counties and 11 of them have entered into agreements to accept the money. The last county only has 0.21 acres of trust land so a deal wasn't significant.

Get the Story:
Ho-Chunk agree to keep $2 million in gaming payments local (The Jackson County Chronicle 4/29)

Related Stories:
County backs agreement for Ho-Chunk Nation trust lands (4/27)
Ho-Chunk Nation agrees to pay counties for trust lands (4/19)