Class III Gaming Amenities Open At Four Winds South Bend

Four Winds South Bend Opens Class III Gaming Facilities

Posted on August 4, 2021Last Updated on March 23, 2022

Four Winds Casino is finally prepared to incorporate table games and slots into its offerings.

On Aug. 5, the Pokagon Band of Potawatomi will host a ribbon cutting ceremony to unveil the new amenities.

Table games revealed by Four Winds Casino

Visiting Four Winds will be drastically changed by Class III gaming.

The Class II license permitted the casino to only offer games where gamblers competed against each other, not against the house. As a result, Four Winds concentrated on poker and electronic bingo.

With the casino upgrading its gaming license, games like blackjack, roulette, slot machines, and other against-the-house games will now be accessible.

Four Winds is incorporating a sportsbook, which could be fantastic news for South Bend gamblers hoping to place bets on Notre Dame football.

Four Winds may soon introduce sports betting, but it will only be available at the property’s retail sportsbook. The casino will not have the ability to collaborate with an Indiana online betting app.

The ribbon cutting ceremony at the casino this Thursday marks the beginning of it all.

The media release states that the ceremony will include Gov. Holcomb and several Indiana lawmakers.

Northern Indiana introduces new casino option

Four Winds, the sole tribal casino in Indiana, operates under different regulations compared to other gaming locations in the state. As a result, it has not been able to provide games such as blackjack.

With the recent upgrades, the property will at last be able to compete on an equal footing with other casinos in Indiana.

The upgrades have been awaited for a long time.

Back in 2019, the Pokagon Band initially submitted a request for a Class III license.

This initiated the process, but there was still a great deal of work to be done.

Eventually, that request resulted in a tribal compact with Indiana. That deal was ratified by Gov. Holcomb in May, and shortly after, it received final approval from the US Department of Interior.

Indiana, as part of the compact, will collect 8% of the casino’s slot revenue.

Both Four Winds and Indiana benefit from this arrangement – the former gets to expand its range of casino games while the latter enjoys an increase in tax revenue. It’s a mutually beneficial situation.

Additionally, the deal provides a new option for gamblers in the northern region of the state.

Apart from the venues in the Chicago area, Blue Chip Casino in Michigan City was the sole option for Hoosiers residing near the Michigan border. However, this is finally changing as Four Winds is transitioning into Class III territory.

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Jake Garza

Jake Garza serves as a US Gambling Industry Analyst at Catena Media, focusing on Midwest sports betting and casino content. Before delving into the legal gambling sector, he was a professional sports writer covering teams like the Cincinnati Bengals, Indianapolis Colts, and Indiana Pacers. Presently, Garza holds the position of Managing Editor for PlayIndiana and PlayOhio. He has also had stints at renowned brands such as PlayIllinois and PlayMichigan. Garza has been reporting on the gambling industry since 2019. In his current role, he collaborates with a team of journalists to deliver in-depth coverage of the legal U.S. gambling sector.

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