How will Detroit spell economic relief: to some Motor City officials, the answer is casinos

Black Enterprise, July, 1995 by Hiawatha Bray

The Rev. Jim Holley fought to keep casino gambling out of the Motor City. Having lost that battle, Holley is now fighting to ensure that African Americans collect a share of the winnings when casinos do arrive.

Holley serves on a special gambling commission appointed by Michigan Gov. John Engler. "It's incumbent on us to make sure that black people are involved," Holley says.

For decades, Detroit voters rejected casino gambling referendums. But the new casino in Windsor, Ontario--just across the Detroit River--apparently changed a lot of minds. Since opening in May of 1994, the Windsor casino has become one of the most lucrative in North America, raking in an estimated $1 million a day.

In hopes of providing a similar economic stimulus in Detroit, voters there approved two casino proposals in an August 1994 referendum. At least three other plans are also being debated.

Of the voter-approved plans, one calls for a $65 million casino in the Greektown district, in downtown. The casino would be owned by the Chippewa Indians of northern Michigan and managed by Detroit developers Ted Gatzaros and Jim Papas.

Voters also backed a plan by Atwater Entertainment Associates to build a casino on the Detroit River. Atwater is made up of about 40 mostly Detroitarea investors, many of them African Americans, who have put a total of $1.5 million into the plan.

The original Atwater plan has expanded dramatically, thanks to the backing of Las Vegas-based Mirage Resorts. Mirage-Atwater wants to build a $500 million complex, featuring a hotel, theaters and a shopping mall. Attorney Johnie Cochran is one of the investors in the project.

But the Mirage-Atwater proposal requires a change in state law. Casino gambling is illegal in Michigan. But a 1988 federal gaming act exempts Native American tribes from such state laws. A tribe can start a casino with the approval of the U.S. Department of the Interior and Gov. Engler. But before a non-Indian casino can open for business, lawmakers must rewrite state law.

Holley favors both the Greektown and the Mirage-Atwater casino plans. But he wants assurances that African American executives will be given management positions at the Greektown casino and that local companies get contracts. Detroit Mayor Dennis Archer has pledged to address this issue, but Holley isn't satisfied. "I'm very concerned that he's not more aggressive," Holley says.

John Hatch, a spokesman for the Chippewa, says the Greektown casino will mean plenty of money and jobs for Detroiters. The Chippewa have pledged to create a $10 million minority-business development fund for the city. He projects that the casino would create 4,000 jobs--60% of which would go to African Americans. "That's from the person who opens the door to the top management," Hatch says.

But no African American investors will have an equity stake in the Greektown project. Detroit entrepreneur Larry Doss, an investor in the Mirage-Atwater plan, is betting that state lawmakers will move to legalize non-Indian casinos so that African Americans can share in the casino bounty. "The legislature understands that Detroit has severe economic problems," Doss says. "I think the presence of Detroiters and minority investors definitely should help our chances of approval."