US Supreme Court Delivers Fatal Blow to Sault Tribe’s Detroit Casino Dream

Posted on: May 1, 2025, 11:21h. 

Last updated on: May 1, 2025, 02:47h.

Philip Conneller @casinoorgphilc Read More
Expertise: Gaming Business, Regulation, Tribal Gaming.
  • The Supreme Court declined to hear the Sault Tribe’s appeal over a denied casino land trust
  • The tribe hoped to build a casino near Detroit, far from its Upper Peninsula base
  • A prior court ruling required the tribe to pay $88M in damages to casino investors

The US Supreme Court has ended the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians’ longstanding pursuit of an off-reservation casino near Detroit.

Sault Tribe, US Supreme Court, the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians, Detroit casino
The Sault Tribe owns five casinos in Michigan’s sparsely populated Upper Peninsula, above, but has long had designs on Detroit. (Image: Kewadin Casinos)

The nation’s highest court this week declined to hear the tribe’s suit, which argued that the federal government erred when it declined to take land the tribe owns near Detroit Metropolitan Airport into trust for casino development.

The Sault tribe is Michigan’s largest Native American group and already owns five casinos in the state’s remote Upper Peninsula, all under the Kewadin brand name. The tribe has long dreamed of operating a more lucrative resort in the more populous south.

While the Upper Peninsula covers nearly 30% of Michigan’s land area, it holds only about 3% of its population and has no major metropolitan areas or economic centers.

Double Whammy

The tribe applied to the US Interior Department’s Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) to approve land for two casinos under the Michigan Indian Land Claims Settlement Act (MILSCA), including a plot near the airport and another for a proposed project in Lansing.

In both cases, the BIA denied the tribe’s applications to take the land into trust, a prerequisite for gaming.

Among the reasons cited by the BIA was that the land was too far from the tribe’s headquarters to meet the condition that it would “enhance” its reservation, a key requirement of MILCSA.

The tribe sued the Interior Department in August 2018, arguing the decision was arbitrary and capricious, and violated the department’s mandatory duty under MILCSA.

The lower court initially sided with the tribe but its decision was reversed in 2022 by the DC Court of Appeals. The Supreme Court’s denial of the case essentially upholds that decision.

The tribe had argued that the BIA’s interpretation of MILSCA “guarantees that the tribe has no ability to take land into trust in areas that would allow it to achieve meaningful economic development.”

$88M Judgment

In January 2023, a court ruled the Sault tribe must pay investors in the two derailed casino projects more than $88 million in damages.

The investors sued in April 2020 for breach of contract and fraudulent misrepresentation, claiming the tribe made false representations about the ease with which it could obtain approval for the two projects.

The tribe appealed the $88 million judgment, eventually settling with the investors for around $25 million.