3,000 back Menominee Tribe’s Kenosha casino project, comments surge

About 3,000 people backed the Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin’s proposed Hard Rock Casino and Hotel in Kenosha during the public comment period on the environmental review, and supporters outnumbered opponents by roughly 6-to-1. That burst of backing gives the project a stronger public record as it heads into the next round of federal decision-making.

For Menominee County readers, the proposal is more than a southeastern Wisconsin land-use fight. The tribe has said the casino-hotel fits its broader economic development strategy for nearly 9,000 members, and the plan on the table is large enough to reshape revenue expectations, hiring plans, and future tribal services if it advances. Public filings describe a roughly $360 million project on about 59 acres in the City of Kenosha, with a 150-room hotel, about 1,500 slot machines, 50 table games and a Hard Rock Live venue.

The economic claims attached to the project are sizable. Project materials say it would create more than 1,000 construction jobs and more than 1,000 permanent jobs, draw about 2.4 million annual visitors and bring nearly 1.6 million of those visitors from outside Wisconsin. That scale matters in Menominee County because tribal business decisions often ripple back to Keshena and the reservation through hiring, dividend potential, service funding and leverage for future investments, even when the project itself sits far from home.

The Bureau of Indian Affairs released the draft environmental assessment on March 14, 2026, and Kenosha County extended the public comment deadline to April 28. The federal notice says the review covers the acquisition of about 59 acres in Kenosha for placement into federal trust status for the tribe. The Menominee Nation has tried to build a casino in Kenosha for about 30 years, and a previous attempt was rejected by Gov. Scott Walker in 2015.

Local and regional politics remain split. Kenosha city and county leaders previously approved agreements allowing the proposal to move into federal review, while the Forest County Potawatomi Community continues to oppose the casino on the grounds that it would compete with its Milwaukee operations. Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson also opposed the project, arguing southeast Wisconsin already has enough casino capacity. For now, the comment surge gives the Menominee tribe momentum, but the final federal and state steps still stand between the proposal and construction.