A new casino opening in northern Michigan this week has raised a number of legal questions over tribal casino locations.
When the Bay Mills Indian Community opens their new casino it won’t be without some concerns over where tribes are allowed to open new gaming locations.
Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox spokeswoman Joy Yearout said there will be a meeting between state officials and Bay Mills officials next week to discuss the new Vanderbilt casino. The casino is not on the tribe’s reservation, which concerns Gov. Jennifer Granholm's administration, according to spokeswoman Liz Boyd.
"There are substantial questions about whether the tribe in fact can legally conduct gaming on this property," said Boyd. "We are dismayed that the tribe would open an off-reservation gaming facility without first resolving these substantial legal issues."
Other Michigan-based tribes are against the new casino and issued a statement this week saying it should not be allowed to open. Some of the tribes run casinos that will be in direct competition with the new site and say it violates Michigan gaming compacts that require consent from all tribes in this situation.
Bay Mills already has two casinos in Michigan's Upper Peninsula; the Vanderbilt casino is in the northern part of the Lower Peninsula.