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By Native News Online Staff

Michigan Gaming Control Board You are welcome to register from any state in the U.S., but must be 21+ years old and physically located in MI to wager. If you or someone you know has a gambling problem and wants help, call the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services Gambling Disorder Help-line at: 800-270-7117.

BRADLEY, Mich. — Since opening its Gun Lake Casino almost 10 years ago, the Gun Lake Tribe has shared more than $150 million with the state of Michigan and local governments.

Despite a lawsuit that went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, the Gun Lake Casino has operated successfully since opening in February 2011, with exception of being closed for nearly three months earlier this year when it voluntarily closed its doors due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Gun Lake tribal officials announced its fall revenue sharing payments earlier this week. The state of Michigan received $3,293,020 and the local revenue sharing board received $1,475,308. GLIMI, an economic development entity, received $987,906. The figures are calculated from electronic gaming revenues reported from April 1, 2020 to Sept. 30, 2020. The fall revenue sharing distribution total of $5,756,234 is the lowest ever for Gun Lake Casino in a six-month period due to the pandemic closure.

The Gun Lake Tribe has now shared $150,047,785 with state and local governments over twenty (20) distributions. Of that total, the tribe has shared more than $98 million with the state, which directs the payments to the Michigan Economic Development Corporation, which, in turn, awards grants to businesses to invest in Michigan and create jobs.

“The Tribe’s commitment to make a positive impact on our local community has never been stronger as we all persevere through the pandemic,” Gun Lake Tribe Chairman Bob Peters said. “This distribution would not be possible without the dedication of our executives and team members at the casino. We thank them immensely and congratulate them for helping us surpass $150 million in revenue sharing.”

To distribute funds to local government bodies, the tribe established a local revenue sharing board. The board receives and administers the semi-annual payments. The gaming compact prescribes mandatory funding to local municipalities for: costs incurred due to the operation of the casino; public safety services; and replacement of tax revenue. The board established by-laws to govern the distribution process. The local payments are made under terms of the gaming compact independent of gaming exclusivity. Local payments now total more than $35 million.

The Gun Lake Casino recently announced reduced hours of operation, closure of food and beverage outlets including no sale of adult beverages, no smoking and increased sanitation measures to assist in the effort to reduce the risk of COVID-19 infection. The Casino’s Play it Safe Initiative has successfully created a safe environment for team members and guests.

Gun Lake now employs more than 1,100 team members.

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JC Reindl
| Detroit Free Press

Michigan has relaxed what was an extraordinary lifetime ban from entering the three Detroit casinos for problem gamblers who volunteered to join a self-exclusion list.

Those who sign up for the list, known as the Disassociated Persons List, now have the option to get off the list after at least five years on it. Previously, they had no choice but to stay on the list for life and face possible criminal prosecution if caught trespassing on the gaming floor at MGM Grand Detroit, MotorCity Casino Hotel or Greektown Casino-Hotel.

Michigan is one of 23 states with some form of self-exclusion list for casinos and gambling activities. Until the policy change passed the Legislature and was signed into law Oct. 14, Michigan was the only state that gave everyone a lifetime ban with no option to ever leave the list, according to a Free Press analysis of an American Gaming Association report.

There were 4,825 people on the Disassociated Persons list as of Oct. 1. Since the new law took effect, about 50 people have formally asked to be removed, said Richard Kalm, executive director of the Michigan Gaming Control Board.

The list doesn’t extend to the 24 tribal casinos within Michigan.

“Life circumstances change, people change, people recover, and so there was a push to soften that life ban,” Kalm said. “I would get eight or 10 or maybe 15 letters a year from people saying, ‘Look, I’ve been on it for 10 years and I have a family now. I just want to go into the casino and enjoy the game,’ and I couldn’t do anything about it.”

Michael Burke, president of the Michigan Association on Problem Gambling, said the policy change is good because some problem gamblers have wanted to join the self-ban list but were reluctant to do so because of the inflexible duration.

Other states have given people the option to leave the self-exclusion list after a period of time, often three or five years.

“The only avenue available in Michigan was a lifelong ban and that really deterred a good number of people from ever signing up on it,” said Burke, 74, of Portage, who overcame gambling problems himself that began after Caesars Windsor opened in 1994.

Still, similar to recovering alcoholics who choose to give up drinking for life, many problem gamblers may never be ready to return to the casinos and so a lifelong ban could still be appropriate for them, according to Burke.

“I would never gamble again, because then you get that dopamine going in the brain again,” he said.

Sneaking in

The Detroit casinos catch about 10 disassociated people a month violating the ban, he said. Violators are often caught when they try to cash out after having won a big jackpot. Yet many people are believed to still pass through the casinos undetected by casino staff.

“To be honest with you, it’s difficult to keep people out — even if they put themselves on a list,” Kalm said. “We don’t have facial recognition (cameras) in the casinos. If there’s 6,000 or 5,000 people in a casino on a Friday night, back before COVID, how in the heck can they know who everybody is? They just can’t.”

More: Detroit casinos see 21% revenue drop in first full month since reopening

More: Wolfgang Puck pulls out of MGM Grand Detroit casino after 13 years

The casinos don’t let disassociated people whom they catch take home any winnings before kicking them out. That money is seized, and State Police give the self-ban violators criminal trespassing tickets.

The tickets are for misdemeanors punishable by up to 1 year of prison and/or a $1,000 fine. However, first-time offenders can undergo gambling addiction treatment and have the cases dismissed.

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Last year the casinos seized about $193,000 in winnings from disassociated persons, Kalm said. The Gaming Control Board gave the surrendered winnings to the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services to fund problem gambling treatment for those who can’t afford the programs on their own, which is common.

“When gamblers finally come to get some help, one of the things gone is their money,” said Burke of the Michigan Association on Problem Gambling.

Michigan also has an “Exclusion of Persons List” for individuals who are involuntarily banned from the Detroit casinos, often after committing serious offenses or a crime within a casino. There are 113 people on this list, and unlike those on the Disassociated list, their identities are considered public record.

Self-ban as prevention

Jeff Zaniewski, 33, of Commerce Township voluntarily signed up for the Disassociated list in September 2017. He said he decided to do so because he realized he had a moderate gambling problem that he didn’t want to spiral into a serious problem.

For him, the precipitating incident was a visit to MGM Grand when he couldn’t bring himself to pocket any of his big winnings and just blew it all.

“I probably took $100 with me. I got up to $700, and then I gave it all back,” he said. “And I just thought to myself, at what point is this going to end? Even if I left a winner today, I’m going to come back later and I’m gonna be a loser again, so at that point I kind of made a promise to myself.”

Zaniewski said he might consider leaving the list once he hits his five-year mark in 2022.

He continues to visit tribal casinos from time to time, but said the driving distance to get there deters him from the sort of spur-of-the-moment trips that led him to trouble at the Detroit casinos.

He used to visit Hollywood Casino Toledo, but he has been banned from that property since the Toledo casino’s owner, Penn National Gaming, purchased Greektown Casino in May 2019 from Dan Gilbert’s Jack Entertainment.

Penn National has an “exclude-one-exclude-all” policy that forbids anyone who is on a statewide self-exclusion list from visiting any Penn National property.

Zaniewski recalled making an in-person visit to the Gaming Control Board’s office in Detroit’s New Center area to get himself added to the Disassociated list.

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“I had a consultation, she asked me if I was on any drugs or any alcohol, she asked me a lot of questions,” he said. “The real poignant one was, ‘Why don’t you want to gamble?’ And I just looked at my wallet and said, ‘The only thing I have to show are these players club cards, which get me nothing. This is just a huge waste of time and money. It’s not really fun anymore.’ ”

He added, “I never did anything bad; I didn’t blow my mortgage. I just felt like that money I wanted to gamble with, I couldn’t use it on anything else. If I wanted to buy something new for the house, I wouldn’t do it — I’d feel guilty about it — but I’d have no trouble spending that $200 at the casino.”

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The application for removal from the Disassociated Persons List is available here on the Michigan Gaming Control Board’s website. Information to join the list is available here.

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Contact JC Reindlat 313-222-6631 or [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter@jcreindl. Read more on business and sign up for our business newsletter.