Gov. Tony Evers signed off Wednesday on the Ho-Chunk Nation’s plans to open a casino and entertainment complex in Beloit, hailing the project as job creator that will help the region recover from the economic damage of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The U.S. Department of the Interior in April approved taking 32 acres just north of the Illinois border into trust for the purpose of developing the complex. Federal law gives governors the power to approve or reject off-reservation casinos.
The complex would include one of the largest casinos in the state as well as a 300-room hotel with more than 45,000 square feet of meeting and convention space, and a 40,000-square-foot indoor waterpark.
The Department of the Interior now must issue a final determination on taking the land into trust. Evers and the Ho-Chunk then must amend the tribe’s gaming compact with the state.
“As we work to bounce back from this pandemic, we must do everything we can to support economic development in communities across our state,” Evers said in a statement.
The Ho-Chunk already run three casinos in Wisconsin — one in Nekoosa, one in Baraboo and one in Black River Falls. The tribe’s gaming compact with the state allows it to operate a fourth. Plans for the Beloit facility have been in the works for more than 20 years.
Beloit voters approved the project in a 1999 referendum. The tribe purchased the land in 2009 and has been working to win federal and gubernatorial approval to build a casino there since 2012.