Walker says he’s got high bar for Kenosha casino

Dept. of Interior must pass first, then Governor

MILWAUKEE — Gov. Scott Walker said he’s set an extremely high bar for approving a casino for the Menominee tribe in Kenosha.

All proposals for off-reservation casinos in Wisconsin must be approved by the federal Department of the Interior, which is considering it now, and then Walker.

Walker told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel a proposed casino would need to have the support of the local community, which Kenosha arguably has demonstrated in voter referendums.

Walker said he’d also like consensus among the sovereign tribal nations.

The biggest opposition comes from the Forest County Potawatomi tribe. It operates a casino in Milwaukee that had a net win of about $368 million last year but argues that a Kenosha casino would cut its revenue by $150 million a year.