Gaming continues to be good business for the Match-E-Be-Nash-She-Wish Band of Pottawatomi Indians, also known as the Gun Lake Tribe, and its neighbors in Michigan.
The tribe shared another $9 million in revenues with the state and with local communities, Chairman Bob Peters announced on Tuesday. He attributed the payment, which represents a 9.4 percent increase from the year prior, to an expansion of the Gun Lake Casino. “This revenue sharing distribution validates development decisions made by tribal council and casino management to study market demand and place value on guest experience,” Peters said. “Our economic impact study confirms that our success supports thousands of great jobs while providing substantial benefits to Michigan’s economy.” The economic impact analysis, released last week, found that the benefits are indeed significant. Since the casino opened in 2011, the tribe and its enterprises have contributed $1.5 billion to the economy. “We are proud to have contributed $1.5 billion to Michigan’s economy in the last seven years through the construction and operation of our gaming and government facilities, and non-gaming business activities,” Peters said. “Each year, this aggregate economic activity supports over 2,600 jobs and pumps $228 million into the state’s economy.” The revenue sharing represents another aspect of the tribe's contributions. Since 2011, the tribe has shared more than $109 million with the state, local governments and GLIMI, an entity that was created in 2016 to fund economic development projects. The payments are made twice a year and are based off of electronic gaming revenues at the Gun Lake Casino, which employs more than 1,000 people. The latest payment of $9.04 million covers April 1 through September 30. Last year's payment for the same period was nearly $8.27 million. In 2017, the tribe debuted an expansion project and, earlier this year, took complete control of the facility. In June, the tribe announced a revenue sharing payment of more than $7.6 million. That was based on revenues from October 1, 2017 through March 31, 2018. Related Stories: