The Blackfeet Reservation has a new casino opening this month – the Glacier Peaks Casino. The new casino will bring in tourists and thus revenue, making the Blackfeet Tribe very happy. It will be having a soft opening first, with a big grand-opening for Labor Day. The casino is 33,000 square feet and will have 500 slot machines just waiting for the picking. They will also have blackjack and craps tables for the casino lovers as well. The casino will be allowed to operate under the Class II ruling for it is an Indian casino and they are allowed to operate with out the state being allowed to come in and tell them what to do. This means there is no limit to what the slot machines can pay out, even though in Montana it is limited to $800 everywhere else.

The project has been underway for quite some time, and it ends up with a $7 million budget – which is fine for the Blackfeet Tribe. They know that once the casino is open, the slot machines are going to be running at full tilt. This is not their first foray into gambling; there other casinos just aren’t as swanky or as large as the new one will be. They have another one with 52 slot machines, which really is a long way off from the 500 that are going to be in the new casino. The tribe feels this is a long due overhaul. They also are reticent to say whether or not they think a compact will be in place by the time the casino opens, and since they don’t need one to operate, they aren’t really worried about it.

The casino is going to employ 200 workers, and all but 10 of those workers are from the Blackfeet Tribe. Those that aren’t are being brought in to train the rest of the workers on how to run the casinos.

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