Gaming News

Michigan wins casino revenue decision ruling

LANSING, Michigan -- As reported by the Detroit Business: "Michigan has won an initial court ruling that could send an estimated $40 million into state economic-development coffers and secure millions more in tribal casino revenue.

"The ruling in a two-year-old federal lawsuit, if upheld, could restore a key source of money for the Michigan Economic Development Corp. and enable the state to beef up business-attraction efforts that shrank during the dispute with two American Indian tribes over payments to the state.

"The action comes at a critical time: The casino-revenue pot of money that pays for a variety of MEDC activities and the salaries and benefits of 54 of the MEDC's 190 employees — noncivil service executives including President and CEO Jim Epolito — is expected to run out sometime in 2008 unless the MEDC finds an alternative funding source.

"...But the legal battle isn't over. Little River Band of Ottawa Indians and the Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians, the tribes the MEDC sued after they stopped sending casino revenue to the Michigan Strategic Fund in 2004, plan to appeal the ruling to the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati..."

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