Sportsman Casino and Lodge would be independently owned by Abston-McKay Ventures and Orr Family Properties, a Tunica-based limited liability company. Orr Family Properties owns the site of the proposed casino and will have an ownership interest in Sportsman Casino and Lodge.
Lakes Entertainment manages Red Hawk Casino in Sacramento, California, and Four Winds Casino Resort just outside of Chicago. The company is also developing properties in Vicksburg, Mississippi; San Diego; Hutchinson, Kansas; and Oklahoma City with Indian tribes in those areas.
In a statement, Kevin Hunter, CEO of Abston-McKay Ventures, said Lakes Entertainment’s CEO, Lyle Berman, was instrumental in the 1990 development of Grand Casinos Inc., which is now Harrah’s Tunica. “Lyle Berman and the Grand Casino Tunica project led the transformation of the Tunica market and to this day he still commands the respect of the national gaming industry,” Hunter said.
In a statement, Berman said the details of the development are still being worked out, but the company expects Sportsman Casino and Lodge “to be a first class casino facility.”