In spite of a worldwide economic lag, representatives of Michigan’s new FireKeepers Casino remain hopeful about the 107,000-square-foot gaming venue located near Battle Creek, Michigan.  The complex is scheduled to open sometime in early August and the first of its 2,680 slot machines arrived during a red-carpet ceremony on Monday.

In addition to slots, FireKeepers will have 78 gaming tables, rooms for poker and bingo and five restaurants. Its parking garage will have 2,078 parking spaces.

The casino is owned by the Nottawaseppi Huron Band of Potawatomi Indians, comprised of 1000 members. This new site sits on 78 acres and is located about 60 miles south-southeast of Grand Rapids, Michigan.

R. Bruce McKee - FireKeepers' General Manager - has expressed his optimism, saying, "Certainly we'd rather open in a booming economy than a down economy, but given our demographics here, our market, our location right on I-94 and the 50- to 100-mile zone that we have before we run into competition - and also given what the propensity to gaming here is in Michigan - I think we're going to do just fine.”

FireKeepers is the state's 19th tribal casino. Only three non-tribal, or commercial, casinos operate in Detroit, Michigan.

About 28,000 people have applied for FireKeeper Casino's 1,500 jobs, which "makes it a little difficult to screen through all those and find the best people that we want," says McKee. Around 200 have been hired so far.