Casino Stalker | Legislation

Hearing for Little River Band off-reservation casino delayed

Tuesday, June 15, 2010

A hearing on the off-reservation casino sought by the Little River Band of Ottawa Indians has been delayed.

The Michigan House Regulatory Reform Committee held an initial hearing on the project on May 26. Additional hearings were scheduled but they were canceled.

“I don’t get why they’re holding this up," Rep. Doug Bennett (D), who supports the casino, told The Muskegon Chronicle.

The new hearing probably won't be held until the end of this month or in early July, an aide to Rep. Bert Johnson, the chairman of the committee, told the paper. The location hasn't been determined either although it will be held somewhere in the Muskegon area.

The tribe wants to build the casino at a former racetrack in Fruitport Township, near Muskegon. The site is about 80 miles from the tribe's headquarters but it's within the tribe's nine-county service area.

The Saginaw Chippewa Tribe, the Nottawaseppi Huron Band of Potawatomi Indians and the Match-E-Be-Nash-She-Wish Band of Pottawatomi Indians oppose the project. They say the Little River Band violated the terms of the original Class III compact by not seeking approval from other tribes for an off-reservation casino.

Get the Story:
State House group to have casino proposal hearing here (The Muskegon Chronicle 6/15)