Contact:
Brenna Kriviskey Sadler
414-276-6237
KENOSHA – The Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin today announced the establishment of an office at Dairyland Greyhound Park for its proposed Kenosha entertainment center and casino. Menominee Tribal Chair Lisa Waukau said the Dairyland office will serve as the local headquarters for the project and Kenosha Project Director Eric Olson.
“The Kenosha community has always had an important role in our plans, and we are pleased to strengthen our community connection even further with a convenient new office at Dairyland Greyhound Park,” Waukau said. “With two successful referendums, supporter-filled public hearings and more, the people of Kenosha have communicated loud and clear that they want our project. They want casino competition, and the jobs and positive economic impact it will bring. We are honored by their steadfast support and glad to be part of the Kenosha community.”
Olson said that Dairyland is the perfect location for the local project office.
“It’s only fitting that the project’s Kenosha headquarters be at this facility, which the Menominee hope to transform into a world-class entertainment destination that will create thousands of good jobs and bring billion-dollar economic benefits to the region and state,” he said. “This is a great step forward for the project, and I look forward to welcoming everyone to our new local office.”
With more than 8,300 members, the Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin is one of the state’s largest Indian tribes and also one of its poorest. The Tribe, which was terminated by Congress in 1954 and restored in 1973, is still struggling financially to overcome that devastating period in its history.
In order to provide for the significant health care, educational and other needs of its members, the Menominee announced plans to build an $808 million entertainment center and casino at Kenosha’s Dairyland Greyhound Park in January 2004. The project would create more than 3,000 jobs and pay state and local government over $2 billion – more than any other Indian tribe or Wisconsin business – over the facility’s first 25 years of operation. Economic analyses, including one performed for the Forest County Potawatomi Community, indicate there is ample room in the Southeastern Wisconsin gaming market for an expanded Potawatomi casino in Milwaukee and a new Menominee casino in Kenosha to succeed.
