"Don’t bring to the Flint area a high-stakes gamble and ensuing lawsuits over Indian casinos.

We simply can’t afford an expensive, local legal fight.

That’s despite the desire of some people for the tourism and jobs that a casino would bring to Genesee County.

The prospect for a casino in Flint’s back yard became more than rumor after the Bay Mills Indian Community of Brimley in the Upper Peninsula bought 28 acres in Flint Township last month.

The tribe has not stated its intentions for the property, but the purchase came around the time it bought land in Port Huron, which has courted a casino for years, and soon after Bay Mills snapped up land in Vanderbilt.

In that little Northern Michigan hamlet, the Bay Mills Indian Community quickly built a casino, and declared it open it Nov. 3. That’s even without the federally approved state compact that accompanied the creation of all other Indian casinos in this state.

The Michigan Attorney General’s Office late last month filed suit, along with the Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians, which operates a casino near Pestokey. They say the Vanderbilt casino is illegal."

Get the Story:
Our Voice: Keep costly casino fight Up North, but start talks now about gaming in Flint Twp. (The Flint Journal 1/9)

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