Gov. Jim Doyle is considering an effort to start up a casino in Madison but said he would reserve the final say for Dane County residents.
Doyle signed seven new tribal gaming compacts Friday, with one allowing for a casino at the DeJope bingo hall southeast of Lake Monona. Doyle’s provision for the new Ho-chunk casino requires a countywide referendum on the casino by the end of the year, allowing Madison residents to decide in 2004 whether to welcome a casino into the city.
If the City Council does not recommend introduction of a referendum, the casino could still become reality if the Council approves it.
Council president Mike Verveer, District 4, said he and the “vast majority” of the council members are opposed to a casino in Madison.
Dave Cieslewicz has already said he is against the casino, in line with his campaign promise to oppose expanded casino gambling.
“I do not believe casinos, with their societal costs, are the way to build the local economy,” Cieslewicz said in a statement issued Friday.
Dane County Board Executive Kathleen Falk agreed with Cieslewicz, citing the county’s vote decisively against gambling in 1993. Dane County residents voted against all non-tribal gaming except for raffles, bingo, the lottery and track bets.
“When the statewide referendum on gambling was approved 10 years ago, Dane County voters actually voted against gambling by nearly a two to one margin,” Falk said in a statement.
County residents voted in the referendum against expanding Wisconsin gambling 65,521 to 37,548.
Verveer said the council would probably issue a referendum on the 2004 February or April ballots, but he did not know for certain.
“One thing we do have is time to figure it out,” Verveer said. He said there are minimal costs involved in issuing referendums, limited to ballot printing and additional computation time.
Ald. Austin King, District 8, said although the casino is “almost universally denounced” by local leaders, he preferred to stay quiet on the issue and let his constituents make the determination.
“We will likely issue a referendum to the voters,” King said.
Doyle’s tribal gaming compacts are part of his plan to amend the $3.2 billion budget deficit, and he has already negotiated 12 other compacts in addition to the seven last week. Doyle has negotiated with tribes to secure more money for the state from their casinos, in turn giving the tribes more leeway in the games they can offer and the hours they can operate the casinos.
Doyle’s new compacts will secure $190 million for the state in the next fiscal year, which begins July 1. The state benefits to Doyle’s collective compact bargaining will reach approximately $200 million. The Ho-Chunk tribe alone will make the biggest contribution to the state, increasing its annual payments of $8 million to $30 million in exchange for more game options and more hours of operation.
Ho-chunk’s current bingo hall at DeJope has 135electronic bingo machines and a 1200-seat bingo hall.
