In preparation for a talk I will give next week at the Association for the Study of African American Life and History’s 2010 Conference in Raleigh, North Carolina, I’ve been reading articles about Don Barden, the first African American casino owner.
Barden is a multi-millionaire who in 1998 submitted a proposal for one of the three licenses that brought casinos to Detroit. His partner on this project was Michael Jackson. Together they planned to build an amusement park along the downtown Detroit Riverfront called The Thriller Theme Park.
The billion dollar project, which Barden and Jackson named the Majestic Kingdom, was also to include an aquarium, a casino and a hotel called The Mansion in the Sky. The project was rejected by the city’s mayor at that time, Dennis Archer. Don Barden didn’t get a casino in Detroit and Michael Jackson didn’t get his Thriller Theme park.
In 2006, Barden tried again for a license to build a new casino, this time in Pittsburgh with Smokey Robinson at his side to help his cause. He got the license, but not the casino.
By 2008 while construction on the new North Shore slots casino was underway, Barden’s financial package fell through and he ended up turning the project over to a Chicago developer, Neil Bluhm, but remaining a minor partner.
In 2009, Barden filed for bankruptcy after his casinos in Gary, Indiana, Tunica, Mississippi and Colorado stopped turning profits. These failed ventures won’t hurt Barden, he has plenty of money, a fortune in fact. But his casino losses speak volumes about the vulnerability of the gambling industry in these hard times.
People are beginning to wake up and are putting their money to better use than lining the already golden pockets of the fabulously rich.
Sandra Adell, Author, CONFESSIONS OF A SLOT MACHINE QUEEN: A MEMOIR
A Black Woman's Reflections on Casino Gambling 