Gun Lake Tribe appoints new COO for Michigan casino

Match-E-Be-Nash-She-Wish Band of Pottawatomi Ind 7BALL ians tribal officials on Monday reportedly announced the appointment of Salvatore Semola as the President and Chief Operating Officer for the Gun Lake Casino located in Wayland, Michigan, according to WHTC.

Semola most recently ran his own consulting firm, Cornerstone Gaming Management, and comes to the casino in West Michigan with 40-plus years of experience in the hospitality and gaming industry, which includes a management stint at the soon to be JACK Detroit Casino-Hotel in Detroit.

The news agency reports that, according to tribal officials, the COO appointment precedes the end of a seven-year pact between the tribe and Stations Casinos for the Las Vegas-based firm to manage the eight-year-old casino. According to WHTC, Semola will work alongside all interested parties to ensure a smooth transition when the contract between the Gun Lake Tribe and Station Casinos comes to an end in February 2018.

On November 7, the Match-E-Be-Nash-She-Wish Band of Pottawatomi Indians, also known as the Gun Lake Tribe, will defend its casino before the U.S. Supreme Court.

The tribe, along with all but one local government, will look to the high court to affirm the Gun Lake Trust Land Reaffirmation Act. The 2014 law confirmed that the casino site is in trust. The validity of the land-in-trust decision is crucial to the casino’s operation because if the government cannot hold the land in trust, the casino is ineligible for Class III games such as blackjack, slot machines, roulette and craps.

After the recent $76 million expansion, currently, the Gun Lake Casino offers more than 2,000 slot machines and a total of 47 blackjack, poker, craps and roulette gaming tables.

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