Kenosha Hard Rock Casino project goes before federal authorities, gets local support
Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Kenosha has officially received local support to continue its tribal gaming program in Wisconsin.
The Kenosha County Board of Supervisors narrowly approved the $360 million venture, 10-9, at its meeting on Tuesday, Jan. 16. The meeting started late and lasted several hours, with results coming out in the early hours of January 17, with regulators finally voting at around 1am local time.
With support from county supervisors, the Hard Rock project could be moved to the federal level. The casino won the endorsement of the Kenosha Common Council earlier this month in an 11-6 vote.
Hard Rock Kenosha is a project of the Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin in partnership with Hard Rock International, owned by the Seminole Tribe of Florida.
Federal Approval Next Step
The Menominee Tribe is looking to expand its gaming operations and expand its economic sovereignty, currently driven by its Menominee Casino Resort in Keshner.
The project requires local approval as the tribe is seeking to build the Hard Rock Casino on a 60-acre parcel of land west of Interstate 94 at 60th Street that is currently owned by the city. The property was formerly Dairyland Greyhound Park Racecourse.
The Menominee Tribe must now seek federal approval from the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) and its Bureau of Indian Affairs after the county and city agreed to sell the land to the tribe for $15 million. The Menominee family has historical ties to the area, which was necessary for the Department of the Interior to place the newly acquired land into a federal trust.
If DOI transfers the land to the trust, the Menominee family will complete the approval process from Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers (D), who must approve the expansion of the tribe's Class III gaming treaty to the Kenosha facility. Evers is open to the idea, saying that by 2022, "tribal nations in Wisconsin will have the right" to operate casinos on their sovereign lands.
Unfortunately, outside of Wisconsin, Kenosha is probably best known for the unrest that rocked the city in August 2020, when nightly clashes with law enforcement broke out, including rioting and arson. The unrest was highlighted when Kyle Rittenhouse shot three people on Aug. 25, killing a 36-year-old and a 26-year-old man. Rittenhouse was later acquitted of two counts of murder.
Casino Details
The Hard Rock Hotel & Casino will join more than a dozen Hard Rock casinos across the United States, but will be the first Hard Rock casino in Wisconsin.
The project includes a casino floor with 1,500 slot machines and 50 gaming tables and Hard Rock Bet Sportsbook. The resort will include 150 guest rooms, seven restaurants and a Hard Rock Café, a 2,000-seat Hard Rock Live concert venue, an 8,500-square-foot ballroom and retail stores.
Hard Rock said the resort will employ more than 1,000 people with annual salaries of $54,000.
Wisconsin has only tribal casinos, no commercial gambling resorts. The Badger State has more than two dozen casinos and gaming arcades owned by Native American communities. The largest gaming tribes in the state are the Oneida and Hochu tribes.
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Source: www.casino.org
