Four Winds Casino unveils class III gaming and future plans

SOUTH BEND, Ind. – Four Winds South Bend introduced class III gaming Thurs. Aug. 5 with a ribbon-cutting ceremony. The Indiana State governor, along with other officials in attendance. 

Officials said the biggest motivation for class III gaming at Four Winds South Bend was to have it operate the same as their other faculties, like the casino in New Buffalo.

The new class III gaming amenities at Four Winds South Bend includes 16 table games, like black-jack, Roulette, and bonus Criss Cross poker, and some electronic table games. It’s something casino officials said was badly needed at Four Winds South Bend. 

“You need table games, in my opinion to there is a lot of cross-over play, there is a lot of I think the value in being able to sit down and play a card game. it continues to help legitimize the facility as a world-class facility because we have more games to offer for our guests,”Frank Freedman, the Chief Operating Officer at Four Winds Casino said.

Four Winds Casino is also going through some renovations. The casino floor, expanding to an additional 40,000 square feet, adding room for more games and guest capacity.

The casino's 23-story hotel tower is still under construction. And officials said when construction is complete, it will have more than 300 rooms, a spa, and conference spaces.

"The conventional and meeting room space is really what this facility is all about. From the standpoint of being able to offer non-gaming amenities to business, we want more business to come to the community, and we want to be able to service that," Tribal Council Chairman of Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Indians, Matthew Wesaw said.

Construction for the hotel is expected to be complete by the first quarter of 2023, and the casino expansion is set for fall 2022. But, with all these developments underway, the need for more employees is critical. There are currently around 200 workers at the casino, but managers need more people to apply, especially with these new projects underway.

“The expansion of the floor here is approximately 12-13 months from now, I’m hopeful that things will start to settle down with regards to the pandemic, and we can continue to look in the rear-view mirror, and folks will be encouraged to come back to work,” Freedman said.

The immediate goal with this class three expansion is to convert all of Four Winds South Bends slot machines to class III. That is expected to take several months to complete.