Four Winds: the city's side of the agreement

2016 — January 25, 2025

Pointer, by design: Four Winds Casino South Bend — opened January 16, 2018, on some 166 acres the United States took into trust for the Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Indians on November 28, 2016 — is the first tribally owned and operated casino in Indiana, and its record as a sovereign enterprise belongs to the Story of South Bend section, the Tribes account, and Businesses in this history. What belongs here is narrower: the documented facts that face the city, under the local agreement the Band and the city signed in 2016, before the casino opened.

Two percent, split in two: Under the Local Agreement, the Band pays the city, in lieu of taxes, 2 percent of the net win from its Class II gaming. The Band's own releases divide the payment: 1 percent of Class II revenue goes directly to the city, and 1 percent goes to the South Bend Redevelopment Commission, to be spent on education, poverty, and unemployment. The Commission's minutes of August 22, 2024, call the resulting Redevelopment Fund "a.k.a. Pokagon Fund" and spend from it — among the items, support for the city's Financial Empowerment Center. A companion Water and Sewer Agreement paid the city $400,000 toward the Calvert Street Lift Station for extending city water and sewer service to the site; an amendment approved by the Board of Public Works on December 17, 2020, added a further $500,000 Band contribution toward the full build-out phase of the water system.

The minimum, as the record gives it twice: The city's Legal Department, in its 2016 annual report, describes the two 2016 agreements together as producing "a guaranteed annual $2 million in City revenue and an estimated $5 million community donation impact." Trade coverage of the signing prints the guarantee as a tier: at least $1 million a year at 850 to 1,699 gaming machines, and at least $2 million at 1,700 or more. The casino opened with about 1,800 Class II games — the $2 million tier, on the city's own account — yet press coverage in 2020 and 2021 quotes the city's minimum as $1 million. The conflict stands in the record as printed here, attributed to its sources, and is not averaged.

The checks, as presented: On February 19, 2020, the Band presented checks totaling $860,000 to Mayor James Mueller and area nonprofits, in the third year of the five-year voluntary contribution agreement; among its pledges, South Bend Venues, Parks & Arts was to receive $2,225,000 over five years toward the renovation of Howard Park, and the Boys & Girls Clubs of St. Joseph County $100,000 over five years. On January 25, 2025, the Band and Four Winds presented a further $335,000 to eleven organizations at Four Winds South Bend; the same release states the cumulative community figures the record holds: $2,225,000 to Howard Park, $500,000 to Beacon Children's Hospital's neonatal intensive care unit, and Four Winds Invitational proceeds to Beacon Health System totaling $1,092,500 over thirteen years. Indiana's first tribal gaming compact — signed by Governor Holcomb and Chairman Wesaw in January 2021 and ratified as House Bill 1055, signed April 29, 2021 — continued the city's 2 percent while the state took 8 percent of slot win, and Class III gaming, slots and table games, rolled out at the casino on August 5, 2021. One gap is named plainly: in the text of the city's 2026 Adopted Budget Book reached, no Pokagon revenue line appears — Four Winds stands there as an employer of 1,250 — so the city's receipts are documented here from the agreement and the Band's releases, as above, and not from a budget figure.

Sources:

1. City of South Bend, Department of Law, 2016 Annual Report — the Local Agreement and Water and Sewer Agreement: the 2 percent payment, the $400,000 Calvert Street Lift Station contribution, and the "guaranteed annual $2 million in City revenue" statement.
2. Pokagon Band / Four Winds news releases (2016–2025) — the 1 percent city / 1 percent Redevelopment Commission split; the February 19, 2020 checks totaling $860,000; the Howard Park and Boys & Girls Clubs pledges; the January 25, 2025 presentation of $335,000 to eleven organizations and the cumulative figures.
3. GGB Magazine (2016), coverage of the agreement signing — the tiered minimum: $1 million at 850–1,699 machines, $2 million at 1,700 or more; The Times of Northwest Indiana and tribal-business press (December 2020 – January 2021) quoting a $1 million minimum.
4. City of South Bend, Redevelopment Commission minutes (August 22, 2024) — the Redevelopment Fund "a.k.a. Pokagon Fund."
5. City of South Bend, Board of Public Works (December 17, 2020) — Water and Sewer Agreement Amendment No. 1, the additional $500,000 contribution.
6. Indianapolis Business Journal (2021) — the tribal gaming compact (House Bill 1055, signed April 29, 2021), the state's 8 percent of slot win, the continuation of the city's 2 percent, and the August 5, 2021 Class III rollout.