Detroit Mayor Won’t Oppose Casino Gaming

Dropping his opposition to casino gambling, Mayor Dennis Archer said Thursday he will support gaming halls but only if it is clearly shown their development will help revitalize this depressed city.

“I will support it as long as it helps the people of Detroit,” Archer said at a City Hall press conference.

The announcement comes two weeks after city voters approved non-binding proposals to allow development of Native American-run gaming halls and riverboat casinos. Voters had rejected four previous casino measures since 1976.

Detroit joins a growing list of Midwestern cities that are considering casino gambling, including Chicago, Cleveland, Cincinnati, Gary, Ind., and Flint, Mich.

The pressure for legalized gambling has grown here since May when a casino opened just across the Detroit River in Windsor, Canada. Since then, thousands of Detroit-area residents have flocked daily across the border to play blackjack, craps and slot machines.

In last fall’s mayoral election, Archer campaigned against casino gambling, saying it was not a panacea for the city’s travails. He still has reservations about the benefits of casinos but now vows to seriously explore their feasibility and negotiate the best deal for the city with developers.

Casino opponents say that while Archer’s willingness to embrace legalized gambling is a blow, his insistence that such development must unequivocally benefit Detroit economically is sound.

“It’s a well-thought-out approach,” said Trisha Arndt, co-chairwoman of Citizens Against Casino Gambling. “But we still think that casinos are a real zero from an economic development standpoint.”

Already three gambling proposals have been made for downtown:

* The Sault Ste. Marie Chippewa tribe has joined with two downtown developers to build a casino in Greektown, a popular restaurant district near Rennaissance Center.

* Harrah’s Casino Hotels proposed a $300-million casino in Foxtown, a proposed redevelopment of the arts district around the Fox Theater. The area is also the proposed site for a new baseball stadium. The casino would be owned by Michigan’s seven Indian tribes and managed by Harrah’s.

* A group headed by real estate developer Herb Strather wants to build a $60-million riverboat with a 50,000-square-foot casino. It would dock downtown on the Detroit River.

Any casino owned by Native Americans must be approved by the U.S. Department of the Interior and the state’s governor. Other casinos must be approved by the state Legislature.

Gov. John Engler, who is running for reelection in November, has formed a commission to study casino gaming. Archer plans to appoint an official within 30 days to coordinate and evaluate the gaming issue for the city.