Ho-Chunk Nation celebrates the start of construction for new Beloit casino and convention center
By Kevin Haas
Rock River Current
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BELOIT, Wis. — The Ho-Chunk Nation on Friday celebrated the start of construction of a new casino and convention center that promises to draw tourists to the city and be a vital new component to Beloit’s economy.
The Ho-Chunk Nation broke ground during a ceremony that honored the native tribe’s traditions, with a ceremonial fire, dancers and prayers and speeches offered in both English and their native language. Danielle DeLong, vice president of the Ho-Chunk Nation, said the groundbreaking represents a key moment where past, present and future come together.
“This is more than just a new development or an opportunity for revenue,” she said.”It’s a symbol of our continued growth and perseverance. This land, like so many others, carries a history that extends beyond what most will see or hear today.”
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The $500 million project being built along Interstate 90 on a 33-acre site near Willowbrook and Colley roads will be built in phases. The first phase is expected to last roughly 18 months with opening by summer 2026.
The casino will be filled with roughly 1,500 to 1,800 gaming machines and about 44 gaming tables.
The second phase will be 18-story, 312-room hotel and 75,000-square-foot convention center slated for completion in 2027, according to Corey Brumbaugh of Miron Construction, the project principal overseeing the work.
The venue was designed by HBG Design and Corporate Contractors Inc. is the general contractor.
Beloit’s largest employer
Construction is expected to employ up to 3,000 people. Once the casino, restaurants, hotel and convention center are all complete, Ho-Chunk is expected to be Beloit’s largest employer with roughly 1,500 workers.
That’s just part of its economic impact, said Jon Greendeer, president of the Ho-Chunk Nation. Some of the money it pumps into the local economy will go unseen, he said. Take for example the floor mats that will be at each entryway, he said.
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“Some mom and pop shop is going to make a million dollars — and you’re going to walk right over it,” Greendeer said. “Someone’s got to do pest control, snow removal, trash removal, all the infrastructure that’s going on to run a business like this. …
“We’ve got a lot of small business that have to be built with capacity to serve a business this big.”
State Sen. Mark Spreitzer of Beloit called it a transformative opportunity to drive tourism to the community.
“When it’s completed I know that we will welcome people from across the state and the region as they gather here,” he said. “This project will not just build a state-of-the-art gaming facility, but will create a draw that will bring people here to stay overnight and see all that the Beloit community has to offer.”
Glaciers and gaming
The work to bring a casino to Beloit, much like in Rockford about 20 minutes down the interstate, is decades in the making.
The first proposal for a casino was put forward in the late 1990s by the Bad River Lake Superior Chippewa and St. Croix Chippewa. Residents voted in a referendum in 1999 to approve the casino plans, but the proposal never reached fruition after the Department of the Interior rejected a call to place the land in a trust and the Bureau of Indian Affairs rejected the plan in 2009.
Ho-Chunk then purchased the site in 2009, and it submitted its first application to the Department of the Interior in 2012.
“I think sometimes people at the federal government see the glaciers that covered much of Wisconsin and think that was a role model for the speed of the process,” joked Congressman Mark Pocan, who represents Wisconsin’s 2nd District.
Gov. Tony Evers approved the Beloit casino in March 2021 and the Bureau of Indian Affairs OK’d placing the land in a trust for the casino in May 2022.
State Rep. Clinton Anderson, a Democrat from Beloit, said he was 7 when rumblings of a casino plan first started. Now, he looks forward to what it can mean for the city.
“This is going to be more than a casino — this is a destination,” Anderson said. “This is going to bring so many people to the city of Beloit and show people how amazing this community is, and without the partnership with the Ho-Chunk that would never happen.”
Race with Rockford
For years, Beloit and Rockford were described as racing to open their casino first, with the leading thought being there was a competitive advantage for the first to go to market.
Rockford won that race, opening its temporary casino on Nov. 10, 2021, and then its full casino and entertainment venue on Aug. 29. In its first full month of operation, Hard Rock Casino Rockford had the second-highest revenue and second most visitors of all 15 casinos in Illinois.
Both Hard Rock and Ho-Chunk leaders have said they don’t fear competition from each other, despite their venues being about 15 miles apart on Interstate 90.
“While a lot of the media and a lot of the people are really excited to see this salacious venture go up against Hard Rock in Rockford — we’re not there to coexist with Hard Rock,” Greendeer said. “This is our market and we are good at gaming. We are No. 1 at gaming, and I fear nothing over there.”
Meanwhile, Geno Iafrate, president of Hard Rock Rockford, has said a concentration of nearby casinos can be positive for both.
“If you look at all the major gaming markets in the United States, the one thing that they have in common — whether that’s Atlantic City, Biloxi, Las Vegas — the thing all those major markets have in common is concentration,” Iafrate told the Rock River Current earlier this year.
Perseverance
Ho-Chunk, as well as city, state and federal leaders, touted the importance of the casino to the Beloit region’s future economy.
It will also pump new tax revenue into Beloit and Rock County coffers, with the city and county receiving an estimated $3 million to $5 million.
Ho-Chunk Nation operates six casinos in Wisconsin — Black River Falls, Madison, Nekoosa, Tomah, Wisconsin Dells and Wittenberg. The new casino in Beloit would be one of its largest.
Greendeer said the launch of the Beloit project not only represents new economic opportunity, but it also showcases the Ho-Chunk nation’s perseverance to keep its sovereignty.
“We not only kept ourselves here, but we kept our language, culture, traditions, fundamental beliefs, principles and our drive to build something this big today.”
This article is by Kevin Haas. Email him at khaas@rockrivercurrent.com or follow him on X at @KevinMHaas or Instagram @thekevinhaas and Threads @thekevinhaas
