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'Father of Indian Casino Gaming' walks on

UPDATE: Funeral services for Fred will be held at 3 p.m. on Friday, September 17, 2021 at the Reid Funeral Service and Chapel, L'Anse. The family will greet friends at the funeral home on Friday from 12 p.m. until the time of the funeral service. A luncheon at the Baraga American Legion Post #444 will follow interment.  

BARAGA, MI--   Fred Dakota has died. 

The longtime chairman of the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community died Monday at his home. He was 84 years old.

Dakota was known as the Father of Indian Casino Gaming. In 1974 the KBIC adopted its first federally approved tribal code, which included language authorizing casino-style gaming. Dakota opened the first Indian Country casino at his brother-in-law’s two-car garage in 1983. He later got a loan and constructed The Pines casino, a private enterprise, which opened in 1984. The federal government sued and The Pines was shut down 18 months later, but it paved the way for other tribes to open their own tribe-backed casinos across the country. Indian casino gaming is now a $20 billion industry.

In 1995 Dakota was accused of suppressing voter rights and the group Fight for Justice took over the KBIC Tribal Center. Dakota and other officials retook the center in 1997.

He was convicted later that year of receiving kickbacks from the installation of gaming machines at the Ojibwa Casino and failing to claim taxes on the money. A judge sentenced him to 2.5 years in federal prison.

The KBIC voted Dakota back onto the Tribal Council in 2008.

Funeral arrangements for Dakota are incomplete and will be announced by the Reid Funeral Service and Chapel in L'Anse.

Nicole was born near Detroit but has lived in the U.P. most of her life. She graduated from Marquette Senior High School and attended Michigan State and Northern Michigan Universities, graduating from NMU in 1993 with a degree in English.