BRADLEY, MI – The Gun Lake Tribe this week participated in Wayland Union School’s (WUS) ribbon-cutting ceremony for its newly updated soccer facility. WUS was able to install a turf field during the renovation due to the $1,975,872 the district received as part of the Local Revenue Sharing Board distributions from the Gun Lake Tribe for the 2023-2024 school year. The payments are part of a compact with the State of Michigan to provide a percentage of Gun Lake Casino’s gaming revenue to the state and to local organizations.
As part of 2024’s payments, the State of Michigan received $4,889,063 from the Gun Lake Tribe, while the Local Revenue Sharing Board received $2,246,765. GLIMI, a non-gaming economic development entity with both tribal and state oversight, received $1,460,758. The revenue sharing payments are distributed semi-annually based on electronic gaming revenues.
“We are incredibly proud to be able to provide these funds to deserving local organizations such as Wayland Union Schools,” said Gun Lake Tribal Chairman Bob Peters. “Thanks to the hard work of the team members at Gun Lake Casino, we’ve been able to generate significant Local Revenue Sharing Board funds each year since we opened the casino in 2011.”
These funds have also been used for other district needs, such as training teachers, purchasing school supplies and buying new buses for the district. The school district has three categories that this financial support is generally used for: Instructional Support, Community Support, and Public Improvement.
“We’re truly grateful for this ongoing support from the tribe,” said Wayland Union Schools Superintendent, Tim Reeves. “This support has helped us with instructional aids such as our iPad program and has allowed us to help the community by reducing preschool tuition fees and eliminating pay-to-play for our athletic programs. It has funded a full-time security officer, and we’ve been able to put a portion of the money aside in a public improvement fund for projects such as the soccer field turf we cut the ribbon on today.”
Since Gun Lake Casino opened in 2011, $207,705,665 in total payments have been distributed to GLIMI, the State of Michigan and the Local Revenue Sharing Board.
