Now in phase five of its expansion project, led by current President and CEO Sal Semola, who was hired following the end of the Station management contract, the Gun Lake Casino is about to add a hotel and a pool and events complex with multiple pools and areas for banquets and entertainment. Station built a serviceable casino for the tribe but it quickly realized something larger would be necessary, and the first expansion was under way. But the tribe had all the required history and could back it up, so five years later, it achieved recognition and began the equally arduous process of taking land into trust for a reservation.įive years after that, the process was concluded and the tribe hired Station Casinos to build and operate the Gun Lake Casino, which opened in 2011, ushering in a new era of economic prosperity.
In fact, at that time, the Gun Lake Tribe had only just applied for federal recognition, often a long and drawn-out process. The Gun Lake Casino was just a glimmer in the eye of Michigan’s Match-E-Be-Nash-She-Wish Band of Pottawatomi Indians, better known as the Gun Lake Tribe, when the Mashantucket Pequots opened Foxwoods in the early 1990s. Integrated resorts were once the bailiwick of Las Vegas and Asia, but today’s tribal casinos are entering that territory eagerly. READ THE FULL ARTICLE IN GLOBAL GAMING BUSINESS’ TRIBAL GOVERNMENT GAMING MAGAZINE Tribal Government Gaming Magazine, March 2023 Tribal Casinos 3.0
