Milwaukee radio host blasts Potawatomi’s $5.4 million efforts to block competition

“A Litany of Greed,” the new Casino Competition For Wisconsin white paper detailing the Forest County Potawatomi’s $5.4 million (and counting) campaign against competition, is making some waves in Potawatomi’s own off-reservation back yard.

Milwaukee radio talk show host Charlie Sykes used the Litany to blast the Potawatomi’s pro-monopoly crusade on his show Monday morning, telling his listeners, “Almost everything you see and hear attacking that (Kenosha) casino is bankrolled by the Potawatomi.”

Take a listen for yourself.

Say yes to real casino competition in Southeast Wisconsin and sign the online petition.

What’s a casino monopoly worth to the Potawatomi? Try $5.4 million…and counting.

The Forest County Potawatomi’s no-competition campaign has left many people shaking their heads. They see the ridiculous ads, read about the outrageous lobbying targets and watch in disbelief as Potawatomi’s leaders use bogus economic claims, publicity stunts, front groups and other expensive tactics to try to kill the Menominee Tribe’s proposed Kenosha casino, dodge competition and lock in Potawatomi’s Southeast Wisconsin gaming monopoly.

Then people ask: How far will Potawatomi’s leaders go to hurt a fellow Wisconsin tribe, lose jobs and destroy economic opportunities for the Badger State – all in the name of keeping their own off-reservation casino competition-free?

We don’t know how far they’ll go, but we can tell you how far they’ve already gone. As far as at least $5.4 million can take them.

Check out “A Litany of Greed,” a new detailed, white paper analysis of the Forest County Potawatomi Community’s relentless and costly fight to stifle competition and preserve the monopoly its Milwaukee casino has held for nearly two decades. We’ve broken down Potawatomi’s anti-competition agenda for the past four years, added supporting materials and examples as backup, and calculated the millions upon millions of dollars Potawatomi leaders have already funneled into efforts to kill the Kenosha casino and keep hold of their monopoly.

The $5,415,284 total is shameful – that’s enough money to educate more than 500 Wisconsin public school students for one year, or buy a year’s worth of food stamps for nearly 2,500 hungry Wisconsin families. And as the Kenosha casino proposal continues to make steady progress (and it does), one can only anticipate Potawatomi’s battle against competition will become even more intense, and more expensive. In fact, now that the budget matter is resolved in Madison, we’ve heard rumblings that Potawatomi’s anti-competition battle will rev up once again.

Competition is at the heart of a strong economy and respect for healthy business competition is part of our state’s proud, progressive heritage. (Fightin’ Bob hated monopolies!) But Potawatomi’s leaders don’t seem to care. As “A Litany of Greed” reveals, Potawatomi’s anti-competition activities are part of an expensive and sophisticated campaign of misinformation, hypocrisy and hubris. The sole goal is to eliminate competition – and Southeast Wisconsin and the entire state will be hurt if Potawatomi succeeds.

Take a look.

Denounce Potawatomi’s pro-monopoly tactics and support free and fair competition for Wisconsin by signing the online petition.

Legislative Audit Bureau report underscores how casino competition can benefit Wisconsin’s economy

The Wisconsin Legislative Audit Bureau recently released an in-depth report on the state Division of Gaming that revealed the State of Wisconsin saw a budget boost of more than $118 million from Indian gaming in fiscal 2005-2006 alone. Among other things, it shows that Governor Doyle is doing a good job making sure tribal gaming benefits the State of Wisconsin.

What’s really interesting is that had the Kenosha casino been operational during that time frame, the state would have likely seen about $40 million more during that fiscal period – enough to educate more than 3,700 Wisconsin public school children – as because of casino competition.

As part of their fight to stamp out competition, the Forest County Potawatomi like to brag that they contribute more to the State of Wisconsin annually than any other Indian tribe or Wisconsin business. A couple of years ago, they built a huge ad campaign around that very premise.

But as usual, the monopoly-focused Potawatomi only told part of the story. They completely skipped an important detail – that if the Kenosha casino becomes a reality, the Menominee will pay the state even more than the Potawatomi. In their ads, the Potawatomi boasted that they’d give $1 billion to Wisconsin over the next 25 years. Well, with the Kenosha casino in place, the Menominee would give $2 billion in the same time period. In other words, real casino competition in the region would result in $3 billion total to help educate Wisconsin children, care for Wisconsin seniors, strengthen Wisconsin businesses and make our state a better place. One can only imagine the positive impact that extra money would have had on our state’s budget.

By focusing on themselves instead of the big picture, Potawatomi’s leaders are cheating Wisconsin out of hundreds of millions of dollars, thousands of new jobs and other much-needed economic resources. Potawatomi’s fight against competition isn’t just hurting the Menominee – a very large, very poor Wisconsin tribe. It’s hurting the entire state and Wisconsin’s economic future.

Competition is a fact of life in the business world. Our hope is that Potawatomi’s leaders will soon recognize that reality and embrace the tremendous opportunity real casino competition will bring to Wisconsin. The LAB report is proof of competition’s positive economic potential.

Sign the online petition to help bring real casino competition – and its related economic benefits – to Wisconsin.

Detroit celebrates regional benefits of competition as one of 3 permanent downtown casinos opens for business

They’ve got the right idea in the Motor City, where they celebrated last week’s opening of the new, $800 million MGM Grand Detroit resort, hotel and casino complex with celebrities, fireworks and a black-tie gala. The ritzy affair marked more than the opening of a new business – it marked a new era in competitive gaming that officials say will create thousands of jobs, provide major fiscal benefits and help put Detroit on the map as a regional entertainment destination.

The MGM Grand Detroit competes with two other downtown casinos, the MotorCity Casino and Greektown Casino. All three started out as temporary facilities – and despite heavy competition, they thrived. MotorCity casino opened its permanent gaming space in June and will debut a 17-story, 400-room hotel in November. Greektown plans to open a major casino and hotel complex in October 2008.

Here’s the kicker: All three of these multimillion-dollar, large scale entertainment centers are within five miles of each other. Five miles!

Casino competition has been good for these businesses, for Detroit, and for the State of Michigan as a whole. Check out the facts:

• Despite operating within mere miles of each other, all three competing Detroit casinos reported revenue increases in January 2007, according to the Detroit Free Press. According to the newspaper, MotorCity reported a 7.1 percent jump, MGM Grand Detroit reported a 4.5 percent leap and Greektown reported a 2.3 percent rise. In 2006, the three casinos raked in a combined total of $1.3 billion in revenue, a 6.1 percent increase from the previous year.

• The casinos have provided hundreds of millions of dollars in annual revenue for Detroit and the state of Michigan, the Detroit News reports.

• Even with three casinos operating in the City of Detroit (and 20 casinos in Michigan), the Detroit News reported in February that Michigan State Lottery revenues had increased by 38 percent over the last four years – generating an additional $141 million for the state School Aid fund.
  

The Forest County Potawatomi should take notice – multiple studies have shown that two competitive casinos can succeed and thrive in Southeast Wisconsin, bringing the region many of the economic benefits Detroit is realizing through casino competition. (Remember, Detroit has three major casinos within 5 miles!)

Detroit’s competitors even have a better attitude than the monopoly-driven Potawatomi. When Casino Windsor in Canada, just across the river from downtown Detroit, announced a major expansion in 2005, Detroit’s casino operators embraced the additional competition. The Detroit Free Press quoted a Greektown spokesman as saying, “We welcome any good competition,” a Greektown Casino spokesman said. Said a MotorCity spokeswoman: “The addition of more quality hotels, convention space and entertainment options will only prove to be of value to the entire area.” A spokesman for Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick was positive, as well. “It’s good that the city of Windsor is remaining competitive,” he said.

It’s nice to see businesses and a community thriving by embracing competition. We’d love to see it in Wisconsin, as well.

Support competition and its economic benefits for Southeast Wisconsin by signing the online petition.