Firekeeper’s Casino, Exterior Dusk Battle Creek Michigan
Two tribes last month reached the end of long roads and finally debuted their new casinos.
FireKeepers Casino in Battle Creek, Michigan, owned by the Huron Band, opened its doors on August 3.
The opening follows 15 months of construction by Full House Resorts. The $300 million casino has 107,000 square feet of gaming, including 2,680 slot machines, 78 gaming tables, a poker room and a bingo hall, plus five restaurants, among them a 500-seat buffet and a fine-dining restaurant.
The casino has already signed up more than 60,000 members to its customer rewards program, called Red Hot Rewards Club.
Full House Resorts, which is managing the casino for the tribe, is being paid a fee of 26 percent of profits over the next seven years. Former Trump executive Bruce McKee is the general manager of FireKeepers.
In Oklahoma, the ribbon-cutting for the $155 million transition from Cherokee Casino to the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Tulsa was held last month, attended by hundreds of politicians and media VIPs.
The two-year expansion of the casino, which is actually located in Catoosa, includes five restaurants such as McGill 19 and Toby Keith’s I Love This Bar and Grill, five nightclubs, an expanded gaming floor, a 350-room hotel, convention space and the 18-hole Cherokee Hills Golf Club, along with the signature rock music memorabilia-this collection valued at $2 million-that is the Hard Rock’s specialty.
Keith, appearing at the grand opening, sang the song that inspired the restaurant, “I Love This Bar.”
But this Hard Rock, the seventh in the chain in the world, and the only one in the Midwest, will have a special affinity for Oklahoma musicians.
“We will dedicate a portion of the memorabilia to Oklahoma Country and Western and rock and roll stars, giving it a unique flavor and making it a Hard Rock like no other,” said the casino’s CEO Dave Stewart.
A 2,500-seat entertainment center is scheduled for completion this time next year.
