Bay Mills Indian Community Tribal Chairman Jeff Parker has said that the tribe would be interested in building a major casino at the Pontiac Silverdome that could provide 3,000 to 3,500 jobs and a minimum payment of $30 million annually to the economically distressed city.

The Bay Mills Indian Community currently operates the Bay Mills Resort and Casinos in Brimley, Michigan, with two successful casinos, a 67 room resort hotel (with 77 more to be open next spring) and convention center, and a 18-hole golf course, the Wild Bluff, considered one of the finest in the Upper Peninsula.

Parker on Monday night told the Pontiac City Council that the tribe has no interest in moving into a community that has not indicated support for the tribe's gaming plans. He said he hoped the council would approve a resolution indicating support for the tribe's plans. That resolution, Parker said, could be withdrawn by the council at a later date if the council changed its mind. The council passed such a resolution on Monday.

Parker said the tribe would guarantee a payment to local governments of $30 million or 2 percent of gaming revenues, whichever is larger. Preliminary estimates of the casino's operations suggest it would have 90,000 to 120,000 square feet of gaming space and employ about 3,000 to 3,500 employees.

Under the plan, the tribe would secure ownership of at least 30 acres of the Silverdome site with proceeds from settlement of a pending land claim over tribal land improperly sold by state officials during the 1800s. The federal Indian Gaming Regulatory Act provides specifically that land obtained due to settlement of a land claim can go into trust for gaming purposes without need for concurrence from a state's governor.