It Took the State Five Months to Shut Down Illegal Vanderbilt Casino

Attorney General Reveals Bay Mills Casino Has 'No Obligation to Pay State'

June 3, 2011
By: Dave Rogers

Want to go into business and make big bucks fast?

Get a building and some slot machines and open your own casino. Anywhere! In Michigan that is.

Since it took the state five months to shut down a totally illegal casino in Vanderbilt, you should have plenty of time to stack up some coin until the authorities get after you.

Bay Mills Casino and Resort opened a new casino in Vanderbilt with 38 slot machines on Nov. 3, 2010.

The tiny 1,200 square foot casino was not on tribal land and had no government approval.

Main opposition to the Vanderbilt maverick came from the rival Little Traverse Bay Band of Odawa Indians who felt Vanderbilt, just 37 miles away, was cutting into their revenue.

The Bay Mills tribe labored mightily to put a brave face on the rogue casino:

"As long as everything continues on as the way we believe it's going to continue on, then the long-term plan in we would look to further develop this property that to meet the needs of the community and the people as a whole," said Allyn Cameron, of Bay Mills Casino.

In January Atty. Gen. Bill Schuette threw his weight behind effort to have the illegal casino closed. But it was not until Mar. 29 that a federal judge gave the operators 15 minutes to shut the doors.

Lawsuits by the Little Traverse Band were the main legal actions. Bay Mills filed, then withdrew, requests for approval from the U.S. Department of the Interior and/or the National Indian Gaming Commission.

"Bay Mills withdrew all three of these requests before a final decision, presumably because there was reason to believe the decision would not be favorable to its cause," Schuette said.

All this furor pulled the veil off a nasty little secret: Bay Mills pays nothing to the state from its casinos while Little Traverse pays a pittance -- six percent, only from slot machine revenues.

One of Schuette's main objections was not that the Vanderbilt casino was open, but that it paid nothing to the state while the Odawa paid $2.5 million last year based on the six percent electronic games tariff.

"Bay Mills is under no obligation to make payments to the state from any revenues generated by its casinos," said Schuette. "Thus, to the extent the Vanderbilt casino is drawing customers away from these other tribal casinos, the state will lose money." ###