Table of Contents

The 24 Tribal Floors and the 12 Tribes Behind Them

Each belongs to one of 12 tribes that hold gaming compacts with the state. Some tribes run a single property, and the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe runs five. Four Winds also has a property in South Bend, but it’s in Indiana and isn’t counted here. For Detroit and the rest of the state’s in-person options, see our overview of in-person gaming in Michigan.

Tribe	Property	Town	Peninsula
Bay Mills Indian Community	Bay Mills Resort & Casino	Brimley	Upper
Hannahville Indian Community	Island Resort & Casino	Harris	Upper
Keweenaw Bay Indian Community	Ojibwa Casino (2 locations)	Baraga, Marquette	Upper
Lac Vieux Desert Band	Northern Waters Casino Resort	Watersmeet	Upper
Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians	Kewadin Casinos (5 locations)	Sault Ste. Marie, St. Ignace, Manistique, Christmas, Hessel	Upper
Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa	Turtle Creek; Leelanau Sands; Crystal Shores	Williamsburg; Peshawbestown; Benzonia	Lower
Little River Band of Ottawa Indians	Little River Casino Resort	Manistee	Lower
Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians	Odawa Casino (2 locations)	Petoskey, Mackinaw City	Lower
Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe	Soaring Eagle; Soaring Eagle Slot Palace; Saganing Eagles Landing	Mount Pleasant (both); Standish	Lower
Nottawaseppi Huron Band of Potawatomi	FireKeepers	Battle Creek	Lower
Pokagon Band of Potawatomi	Four Winds (3 locations)	New Buffalo, Hartford, Dowagiac	Lower
Gun Lake Tribe	Gun Lake Casino Resort	Wayland	Lower

Upper Peninsula: Ten Floors, Five of Them Kewadin

Ten of the 24 are north of the Mackinac Bridge, and that’s a lot of gaming for a region with so few large towns. The Sault Tribe’s Kewadin chain covers the eastern UP from Sault Ste. Marie and St. Ignace out to Hessel, Manistique, and Christmas. Bay Mills sits west of the Soo in Brimley. Farther west you’ll find Island Resort in Harris, the two Ojibwa casinos in Baraga and Marquette, and Northern Waters in Watersmeet. All five Kewadin floors admit players 18+, so in the eastern UP you can count on five floors at that age.

Lower Peninsula: Three Clusters

The other 14 fall into three rough groups. The southwest holds Pokagon’s three Four Winds properties, FireKeepers in Battle Creek and Gun Lake in Wayland. Mid-Michigan belongs to the Saginaw Chippewa, with Soaring Eagle and Slot Palace in Mount Pleasant and Saganing Eagles Landing up the road in Standish. The northwest is shared by Turtle Creek and Leelanau Sands near Traverse City, Crystal Shores in Benzonia, which opened in January 2025 (the federal gaming regulator has ordered it to stop, and the tribe is challenging that in court, so check it’s open before you drive), Little River in Manistee, and the two Odawa casinos at Petoskey and Mackinaw City.

Which Michigan Tribal Casinos Are 18+ and Which Are 21+?

Most of Michigan’s tribal casinos take players at 18. The 21+ group sits mainly in the southwest, where FireKeepers, Four Winds, and Gun Lake all ask for 21, plus the two Odawa properties in the north. Three properties don’t publish an age at all, so call before you go.

Property	Gaming age
Kewadin (Sault Ste. Marie, St. Ignace, Manistique, Christmas, Hessel)	18+ (sports betting 21+)
Island Resort, Harris	18+
Northern Waters, Watersmeet	18+ (21+ to drink)
Turtle Creek, Williamsburg	18+
Leelanau Sands, Peshawbestown	18+
Crystal Shores, Benzonia	18+
Little River, Manistee	18+
Soaring Eagle and Slot Palace, Mount Pleasant	18+
Saganing Eagles Landing, Standish	18+
Odawa, Petoskey and Mackinaw City	21+
FireKeepers, Battle Creek	21+
Four Winds, New Buffalo, Hartford and Dowagiac	21+
Gun Lake, Wayland	21+
Bay Mills, Brimley	Not published
Ojibwa, Baraga and Marquette	Not published (the tribe’s rules set 18 as the minimum)

Even on an 18+ floor, the bar is still 21+, and Kewadin’s sports betting kiosks, which all sit in its bars, are 21+ too.

What Games Can You Play at Michigan Tribal Casinos?

Slots are on every floor. Most properties add live blackjack and roulette, and the bigger resorts run craps, baccarat, and poker-style table games too. A few have no live tables at all: Kewadin Hessel and Manistique, Odawa’s Mackinaw City floor and Slot Palace, which sticks to slots, bingo and keno. Saganing runs electronic blackjack and roulette rather than live tables, and Northern Waters adds electronic craps and roulette to its live blackjack.

Poker rooms are rarer. Soaring Eagle, FireKeepers, Gun Lake, Island Resort, Bay Mills and Odawa in Petoskey run live poker. Four Winds’ only poker room is across the state line in South Bend, Indiana, and Kewadin offers poker-style table games such as Three Card Poker rather than a room.

Sports betting is widespread. Soaring Eagle has Ascend Sportsbook, Gun Lake has 131 Sportsbook, FireKeepers has cash-only Dacey’s, and Northern Waters has a sportsbook lounge, while Kewadin, Turtle Creek, Leelanau Sands, Little River, Saganing, Four Winds, and Bay Mills take bets at counters or kiosks. Odawa doesn’t offer sports betting, and Island Resort is switching sportsbook partners. Bingo runs at Island Resort, Leelanau Sands, Soaring Eagle and Slot Palace. Our guide to real-money games explains how each one works.

Which Michigan Tribal Casinos Have Hotels and Resorts?

Fourteen of the 24 have an on-site hotel, from a 40-room inn in Baraga to resorts with more than 400 rooms, and Odawa runs a hotel near its Petoskey floor.

Property	Rooms	Worth knowing
Island Resort, Harris	450+	Spa, indoor waterpark, adults-only pool, golf, RV park
FireKeepers, Battle Creek	446	Indoor pool, sauna and steam room, 24-hour fitness center
Four Winds, New Buffalo	415	Outdoor pool
Kewadin, Sault Ste. Marie	311	RV park
Little River, Manistee	292	Indoor and outdoor pools, RV park
Bay Mills, Brimley	273	Indoor pool, golf course, RV park
Gun Lake, Wayland	252	Pool atrium and spa
Saganing Eagles Landing, Standish	148	Pool, RV park
Turtle Creek, Williamsburg	137	Free shuttle to a sister resort for its amenities
Kewadin, St. Ignace	81
Leelanau Sands, Peshawbestown	50	Spa, RV parking
Ojibwa, Baraga	40	Indoor pool and sauna, RV park
Soaring Eagle, Mount Pleasant	Not published	Spa and indoor pool; its waterpark hotel is a separate property 1.5 miles away
Northern Waters, Watersmeet	Not published	Pool, sauna, golf course, RV sites
Odawa Hotel, Petoskey	Not published	Separate building with a free shuttle to the floor

The rest are day trips: Kewadin Manistique, Christmas and Hessel, Ojibwa Marquette, Crystal Shores, Slot Palace, Four Winds Hartford and Dowagiac, and Odawa’s Mackinaw City floor. For FireKeepers and Gun Lake in detail, see our Battle Creek guide and Grand Rapids guide.

Gambling Ages: Why Kewadin Says 18+ and Your Phone Says 21+

On March 30, 2022, the Sault Tribe lowered the gaming age at its Kewadin casinos from 19 and older to 18 and older. That covers all five Kewadin floors. Some tribal casinos admit players 18+, including Kewadin, but each tribe sets the age for its own floor, so check the property’s site before you make the drive. Our Michigan gambling age guide sets out every venue and product.

Detroit’s three commercial properties are 21+ for both the gaming floor and poker. Every online casino, sportsbook, and poker room licensed by Michigan is 21+ too, including the ones that run under a tribe’s license. Several of the compact tribes hold those Michigan online licenses, each working with a partner company that runs the platform. The licenses cover the whole state rather than the land around the property, so a tribe based in the Upper Peninsula can offer slots, table games, and sports bets to a phone in Battle Creek or Ann Arbor. In practice, a tribe can welcome you at 18+ in person while an app operating under that same tribe’s state license turns you away.

If you’re 18+ but not old enough for the 21+ apps, a tribal floor is your only in-person option in the state. Our guide to Michigan gambling ages covers are rules behind both ages and what the law means for players. To see how the state’s apps compare on a phone, visit our page on gaming apps in Michigan.

Old Enough for Kewadin, Not for the Apps: Offshore Online Play

The offshore sites we recommend take Michigan players, many of them from 18. Michigan’s 2019 online gaming and sports betting laws license operators, and no Michigan law names a penalty for a player using a site licensed elsewhere. Federal law points the same way. The Wire Act is aimed at businesses that take bets over wire communications, and UIGEA stops gambling businesses from accepting payments for unlawful bets. Neither makes placing a bet a crime for the person playing.

If you’re old enough for a Kewadin floor but not for the state’s apps, these are the offshore sites we’d point you to from anywhere in Michigan. Our ranking method explains how they earn a spot, and you can see all our Michigan online casino rankings on the homepage.

A Kewadin trip has a natural end: you cash out and drive home from St. Ignace. When you play online, you set that end yourself, so pick a stopping point before you deposit and stick to it. If you catch yourself reloading after a session was supposed to be over, Michigan’s problem gambling helpline is 1-800-270-7117, and the national line, 1-800-MY-RESET, is there as well.

Who Oversees a Tribal Floor (It Isn’t the Gaming Board)

Tribal floors operate under the federal Indian Gaming Regulatory Act and their tribal-state compacts, not under Michigan’s gaming laws. The Michigan Gaming Control Board’s tribal casino page spells out that the state has no general regulatory authority over them. Each tribe’s government and the National Indian Gaming Commission handle day-to-day regulation.

The state’s role is narrow. The Governor signs the compacts, and Gaming Control Board staff inspect for compliance with them. The five-member Board itself has nothing to do with tribal gaming. Detroit’s three properties are the opposite: they’re commercial properties that answer to Michigan gaming law and that Board. If you’re weighing a city trip against a tribal one, our Detroit casino guide covers the commercial side.

If a Tribe Won’t Settle Your Dispute

Because the tribe is the regulator, a complaint about a payout, a machine, or a table ruling goes to that tribe and its gaming authority, not to the state. The Gaming Control Board keeps a separate page with patron dispute information for tribal properties. If the tribe’s process doesn’t resolve it, that page points you to the National Indian Gaming Commission’s regional office. Keep your receipts, player’s card records, and the time of the incident, since the tribe will want them.

Tribal Casinos vs. Detroit’s Commercial Floors

The three Detroit properties sit within a few miles of each other and run under one set of state rules. The tribal floors are spread from Watersmeet to New Buffalo, and each tribe writes its own.

	Tribal floors	Detroit’s three
Who regulates	The tribe and the National Indian Gaming Commission, under a compact	Michigan Gaming Control Board
Gaming age	18+ at most, 21+ at some	21+ everywhere
Poker rooms	Six properties	MGM Grand Detroit only, since Greektown and MotorCity closed theirs in 2024
Sports betting	At most properties, at the tribe’s own age	At all three, 21+
Hotels	Fourteen on site, from 40 to 450+ rooms	A hotel at each one
Disputes	The tribe’s gaming authority, then the NIGC	Michigan Gaming Control Board

If you’re 18 to 20, the choice is made for you: a tribal floor is the only in-person option. If you’re 21+ and want everything in one trip, Detroit puts three floors, poker, and big sportsbooks a short ride apart, while a single resort offers the hotel, pool, and golf in one place.

From a 1990 Lawsuit to 24 Floors

Congress passed the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act in 1988, which opened the door to casino-style gaming on tribal land under compacts with the states. Michigan didn’t negotiate right away. In 1990, six tribes sued the state to force talks, in a case later brought against Governor John Engler, and a seventh tribe joined along the way. The case ended in a consent judgment, and in 1993 the state signed compacts with all seven: Bay Mills, Grand Traverse, Hannahville, Keweenaw Bay, Lac Vieux Desert, the Saginaw Chippewa and the Sault Tribe.

Four more tribes signed compacts in 1998: Little River, Little Traverse Bay, the Nottawaseppi Huron Band and the Pokagon Band. Gun Lake became the 12th in 2007. Keweenaw Bay had already signed a new agreement in 2001. Compacts can also be renegotiated after 20 years, and Hannahville’s 2017 agreement cut its state payment from 8% to 2%. It has since dropped to 1%. This compact system, rather than Michigan gaming law, governs the floors you walk onto, which is why you’ll find a tribe setting its own gaming age while Detroit follows the state’s.

Where Tribal Gaming Money Goes

Every tribe pays 2% of its gaming revenue to the local governments around its properties, and in fiscal 2023-24 all 12 paid, totaling $30.5 million. Payments to the state, which go to the Michigan Economic Development Corporation, have shrunk. According to the Senate Fiscal Agency, only four tribes paid the state in fiscal 2023-24, for $39.0 million. The record was $60.0 million from eight tribes in fiscal 2015-16.

Withholding isn’t new. When the three Detroit casinos arrived in the late 1990s, eight tribes stopped their state payments, arguing that their geographic exclusivity had been broken. Disputes have kept coming since. Gun Lake paused its payments after Michigan’s iLottery launched in 2015 and later resumed them. Since the 2015-16 peak, the Little Traverse Bay Bands have withheld all state payments from 2018, and the Little River Band from 2023.

Tribe	Local 2% payment, FY 2023-24	State payment, FY 2023-24
Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe	$6,594,805	$0
Nottawaseppi Huron Band of Potawatomi	$6,077,822	$18,518,203
Pokagon Band of Potawatomi	$4,637,999	$10,452,233
Gun Lake Tribe	$4,500,516	$9,400,533
Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians	$1,783,469	$0
Little River Band of Ottawa Indians	$1,586,297	$0
Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa	$1,457,647	$0
Hannahville Indian Community	$1,233,029	$616,515
Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians	$1,140,483	$0
Keweenaw Bay Indian Community	$742,251	$0
Bay Mills Indian Community	$374,141	$0
Lac Vieux Desert Band	$343,111	$0

Since the local share is a flat 2%, it gives a rough idea of which tribes do the most gaming business. The Saginaw Chippewa’s three mid-Michigan properties paid the most. FireKeepers, the Nottawaseppi Huron Band’s only property, came in just behind them on its own, and the southwest cluster of FireKeepers, Four Winds, and Gun Lake accounted for nearly all of the money the state received that year.

The picture has shifted again since. The state gaming board’s 2025 report shows only three tribes paying the state, for about $15.4 million, with Keweenaw Bay withholding since December 2019 and Gun Lake again since January 2025. The Nottawaseppi Huron Band stopped in February 2026, and the Pokagon Band was reported to have joined the withholding tribes in September 2026, which leaves Hannahville as the only tribe still paying the state in full.

What’s Changed on Michigan’s Tribal Floors Lately

For players, the biggest recent shift is Kewadin’s move from 19+ to 18+, which put five floors within reach of anyone too young for the state’s apps. Crystal Shores in Benzonia opened in January 2025 as the Grand Traverse Band’s third property, and Gun Lake opened a new hotel tower in March 2025. Off the floor, the payment disputes have spread to Gun Lake, the Nottawaseppi Huron Band, and reportedly the Pokagon Band, so the state’s share has fallen sharply.

Tribal Gaming FAQ