Mille Lacs Band Offers to Finance Stadiums

ST. PAUL-The Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe is proposing financing support of a ballpark for the Minnesota Twins or stadium for the Minnesota Vikings in an effort to fend off pressure from Gov. Tim Pawlenty to share its casino profits with the state. But the band says it will not renegotiate contracts that give Mille Lacs and 10 other Minnesota tribes a monopoly on casino gaming and levies no taxes on their earnings.

Minnesota’s tribal casinos are estimated to take in more than $1 billion a year, trailing only California and Connecticut. The proposal was contained in a letter to three elected state officials from Melanie Benjamin, chief executive of the Mille Lacs Band. Pawlenty has said he wants a “better deal” for Minnesota from gambling operations–meaning a contribution to the state. Both the Twins and Vikings are seeking public support for new sports facilities.

“Because of the growing political pressure to expand gaming and the seeming stalemate between the tribes and the state, now is the time for a new course,” Benjamin said in her letter, which was sent to Pawlenty, House Speaker Steve Sviggum and Senate Majority Leader Dean Johnson.