Is anyone familiar with Lakes Entertainment? Thanks. I know it would be the third biggest casino on the Strip if in Vegas.
Four Winds Casino Resort in New Buffalo
The construction process has begun...building is slated to begin in June
In January of this year, the Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Indians received final approval to develop Four Winds Casino Resort when the federal government took official action to take its tribal land into trust. This action followed the U.S. Court of Appeals decision upholding the tribe's right to open the casino in New Buffalo Township.
The estimated cost of the project is $160 million and is being developed on 52 acres of a 675-acre tract owned by the tribe. More than four million visitors are expected each year, and future phases of the project are slated to include a hotel and a special events center.
Four Winds Casino Resort will feature:
- More than 124,000-square feet of gaming (over 100 gaming tables and 3,000 slots)
- Covered parking garage with 2,200-spaces
- Six restaurants
- Hotel with 160 Rooms and Suites
- From 1695 to the 1760s, the Potawatomi territory was once much of the land from Milwaukee to Detroit around the southern end of Lake Michigan. During the 1760s they expanded into northern Indiana and central Illinois.
- Land cessions to the Americans began in 1807 and during the next 25 years drastically reduced their territory.
- The Potawatomi sold one million acres of hunting ground known as “She-gong-ong” (Chicago) for 3 cents an acre. The government reneged on the deal, not paying them a dime. Chief Pokagon tried to persuade the United States government to pay the claims of his people for the sale of their land. He ended up making several trips to Washington. Most of his pleas went unheard until Lincoln was president, his case was reviewed and part of the money paid.
- Through a series of treaties, the Potawatomi of the Woods (Michigan and Indiana bands) were relocated to eastern Kansas. Some Potawatomi groups avoided removal and remained in the Great Lakes. The Pokagon Band was one of these groups. In order to reamin on their ancestral land, they traded their tribal identity and slipped from greatness into poverty.
- The Potawatomi claims remained unpaid until President Cleveland took the matter up, and in 1896 the Potawatami finally Indians received the money for the sale of their land.
- Tribal Recognition was not restored until September of 1994 under President Clinton.
The Four Winds Casino will be managed by Minneapolis-based Lakes Entertainment, Inc., which currently boasts a total of nine casino development and management deals with six different tribes located in Michigan, Oklahoma, Texas and California. Lakes Entertainment also has plans to build a company-owned casino resort in Vicksburg, Miss., and it is the majority owner of WPT Enterprises, a media and entertainment company that produces the "World Poker Tour" television series.
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