Soaring Eagle not worried about State approval of four big-city establishments

Michigan casinos are not too concerned about new competition from Ohio.

Ohio approved a referendum to build four casinos — Toledo, Cleveland, Columbus and Cincinnati — and expects them operational in three years.

Soaring Eagle Casino and Resort, 6800 Soaring Eagle Blvd., does not expect to see much of an impact, said Frank Cloutier, public relations director for the Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe.

The casino faced a similar threat when the Detroit casinos opened 10 years ago.

“When we look at it historically, there was a lot of fodder about it having a large impact,” Cloutier said. “We did see the numbers decrease, but they came right back.”

Cloutier said he feels Soaring Eagle’s location keeps its market share intact.

“We don’t draw from a distance. We’re mid-Michigan,” he said. “We have people that come from the Detroit market to spend time with us, because we’re not the city. We have people from the North who will spend a night with us on their way to a metro area.”

Soaring Eagle’s normal market radius is between 50 and 75 miles, but it does draw customers from as far as 150 to 175 miles away.

Detroit business

Detroit’s casinos — MGM Grand Detroit, Greektown Casino and Motor City Casino — believe they draw customers from a 75-mile radius, which stretches into northern Ohio and Toledo.

Even with that threat, the Ohio casinos should not take too much of Detroit’s business, said Eric Bush, administrative director for the Michigan Gaming Control Board.

“‘If you build it, they will come’ might be a misnomer,” Bush said. “Just building a Vegas-style casino, and believing customers will come may be a little simplistic without studying the demographics and the games they offer, and their management and their entertainment packages.”

Competition is not anything new to the Detroit casinos. They face competition from Caesars Windsor in Ontario and 20 tribal casinos.

Bush believes the quality of the casinos’ overall package will determine their market share, not the distance.

“It’s like shopping. Some people shop price, some people shop uniqueness, some people shop quality,” he said. “If it’s around the corner, of course you’re going to go that one, if that’s your concern. If the best blackjack is in Detroit, someone might drive there. If the best entertainment is in Toledo, you might go there.”

Ohio has a long road ahead of it, and must do what Detroit did when it built its casinos in the late 1990s and the early 2000s.

“I’m sure Detroit isn’t just going to sit back. This gaming is a science,” Bush said. “They’re not going to sit back and let their customers leave, I think. That doesn’t make sense.”