Ho-Chunk Nation casino plan in Beloit, Wisconsin approved

Approval has been two decades in the making.

Good things come to those who wait. This is certainly the feeling of the people of the Ho-Chunk Nation after the Bureau of Indian Affairs has at last approved the tribe’s application to open a casino in Beloit, Wisconsin… over two decades since voters in the city approved the site’s construction.  

According to the approved plan, the tribe will oversee all aspects of design and construction, including requisite infrastructure improvements. It is expected that 3,000 construction jobs and 1,300 permanent jobs will come as a result.  

The site is due to be developed on 33 acres of land that has been put in a trust. 

The approval has indeed been a long time coming. The project was first approved in 1999, but it would not be for another decade before the land was purchased by the tribe. After that, there was the process of getting both federal and state approval for the construction. State governor Tony Evers agreed to the plan over a year ago. 

With 300 rooms, 45,000 square feet of convention space and a 40,000-square-foot indoor waterpark, the Ho-Chunk Nation’s casino will be among the largest in the state of Wisconsin.  

This is not the tribe’s first foray into casino gambling. Already, it has three in the state: one in Nekoosa, another in Baraboo, and yet another in Black River Falls.  

Tribe spokesperson Ryan Greendeer hit a sanguine note as he commented on the move: “This is tremendous. This is the final approval. From here we can start building. The Nation sees this project as an investment to recover from the pandemic and create new economic opportunities for everyone.” 

The hope is that, with the new site, the social and economic health of the tribe will be even more secure. Long-term housing, educational programs and health care have all been cited as beneficiaries of the new casino.

Cameron Saunders

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