Kewadin Casinos in Michigan

Kewadin Casinos – snapshot comparison

Here is a quick comparison of the five Kewadin Casinos in Michigan. Each has slots, and all five also offer table games, though at a couple of properties, those games are virtual and not administered by a live dealer (e.g., electronic blackjack, electronic roulette).

Kewadin Casinos online gambling partnership

Kewadin Casinos and the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians partner with Caesars Entertainment for online wagering in the state. The Horseshoe Online Casino operates under that license.

Sports wagering at Kewadin Casinos

You can wager on sports at all five Kewadin Casinos. None has a full-fledged sportsbook as yet, though each has kiosks available 24 hours a day for wagering.

• Sault St. Marie — 3 kiosks in the Rapids Lounge and Superior bar.
• St. Ignace — 2 kiosks at the Whitetail Sports Bar
• Christmas — 1 kiosk at Frosty’s Pub ’n’ Grub
• Manistique — 1 kiosk at Team Spirit Bar
• Hessel — 1 kiosk in the bar area

Note that even though the minimum age to gamble at the Kewadin Casinos is 18, you have to be at least 21 to wager on sports.

Games at Kewadin Casinos

Kewadin Sault Ste. Marie

Of the five Kewadin casinos, the location at Sault Ste. Marie is the largest and most extensive in terms of its offerings. It is home to more than 800 slots, all available 24 hours a day on its nearly 40,000-square-foot gaming floor. Kewadin Sault Ste. Marie also offers table games, including blackjack, roulette, and craps. These run Wednesday 4 p.m.-12 a.m., Thursday-Saturday 4 p.m.-2 a.m., and Sunday 4 p.m.-12 a.m. No live table games run on Monday or Tuesday.

The poker room at Sault Ste. Marie permanently closed several years ago. There used to be a regular schedule of bingo events, but a recent check of the calendar shows none at present. 

Kewadin Casino St. Ignace

If the Sault Ste. Marie venue is the king of the Kewadin group, the St. Ignace location is certainly the prince. The property, located near the Mackinac Bridge that connects the Upper and Lower Peninsulas, has nearly as many options, amenities, and features as its sister property to the north.

The 25,000-square-foot gaming space features over 700 slots available for play 24 hours a day. There are table games as well, including blackjack, Three Card Poker, Heads Up Hold’em, and Let It Ride. Table games are available Wednesday, Thursday, and Sunday 4 p.m.-12 a.m.; Friday and Saturday 4 p.m.-2 a.m.; and they are closed on Monday and Tuesday.

Kewadin Casino Christmas

At Kewadin Christmas, the gaming floor is smaller, at around 8,500 square feet, and there are about 240 slots to choose from. Note that the gaming floor is not open 24 hours at Christmas, but open 9 a.m.-1 a.m. each day.

There are a few live table games, namely three blackjack tables and one for Let It Ride. Those are open Wednesday through Sunday, 4 p.m.-12 a.m. All of this gaming takes place in a pleasant, Christmas-themed environment. There’s even a giant statue of Santa Claus welcoming you out front.

Kewadin Casino Manistique

Kewadin Casino Manistique rivals the Christmas location with a 10,000-square-foot gaming floor and over 230 slots. There are no live table games, but like all five Kewadin Casinos, you can play virtual table games there. Like Christmas, the gaming floor at Manistique is only open from 9 a.m. to 1 a.m. each day.

Kewadin Casino Hessel

Finally, the Hessel location is the smallest of the five, with a gaming floor of slightly less than 4,000 square feet and about 150 slots, including a few virtual table games. The Hessel venue is open Sunday through Thursday from 9 a.m. to 11 p.m., and Friday and Saturday from 9 a.m. to midnight.

Northern Rewards Club

Retaining a customer is always cheaper than acquiring a new one, so it’s no surprise that Kewadin Casinos has a loyalty program to reward frequent visitors. The loyalty program is aptly named the Northern Rewards Club.

There are many benefits you can earn with your club membership. Possible redemption options include free hotel stays, free dinners, free tickets to shows and other entertainment, discounts on merchandise, and invitations to special events, contests, and promotions.

There’s one other big benefit to mention. Kewadin will reimburse you with $8 in credits if you happen to cross the International Bridge or Mackinac Bridge en route to a Kewadin Casino. There’s no point requirement to redeem this feature, and you don’t have to show a receipt. Just stop in and receive your reimbursement.

Of course, the benefits you are entitled to depend on your program tier. The Northern Rewards Club has four regular levels: Green, Silver, Gold, and Black. In addition, the club offers the Valor card, available to active and honorably discharged military members, as well as police, fire, and EMS personnel.

With the exception of the Valor card, all tier statuses are determined by how many tier points a player earns through his or her play. You can earn one tier point for every $4 in slot play, every $8 in video poker play, and every $10 wagered in table games. Each tier requires several thousand tier points in order to grant access. Furthermore, your tier status will be reviewed every six months. So, you will have to play often to progress beyond the Green tier.

At the same time that you’re earning tier points, you will be earning club points. These points can be used as pseudo-currency at a Kewadin property. They are redeemable at a cash equivalent rate of 100 points per dollar, although it’s impossible to cash out your points at any time. However, you can simply swipe your card in order to pay for items at Kewadin Casinos with your points. Along with all the goodies you can buy, you can potentially secure several dollars in free play, too.

Since it’s free to join this club, anyway, it seems silly not to take advantage, particularly if you were planning on visiting a Kewadin location. Make sure you don’t miss out on all the goodies.

Amenities at Kewadin Casinos

Hotels

Only two of the five Kewadin Casinos have hotels. The rest rely on nearby lodging or serve mostly local, drive-up traffic, although the Hessel location has its own “Hessel Cabins” located just across from the property.

• Sault Ste. Marie Hotel — The flagship Sault Ste. Marie property offers more than 300 rooms, including 260 recently renovated rooms and suites. Guests can choose a standard room with in-room coffee service, a suite with a separate bedroom, living area, and kitchenette (some suites now include a fireplace and second bathroom), or a whirlpool room with its own in-room tub. All guests have access to the hotel’s indoor pool, sauna, and fitness center.
• St. Ignace Hotel — The St. Ignace hotel is smaller, with 81 non-smoking rooms overlooking Lake Huron, but offers the same standard and suite options, minus the whirlpool room. Suites here come with a jetted bathtub, and every room includes a microwave. Guests also have access to an indoor pool, whirlpool, and fitness center.

Dining

All five locations have at least one place to grab a bite, though options range from full-service restaurants at the two flagship properties to simple, single-counter setups at the smaller three.

• Sault Ste. Marie — Sault Ste. Marie offers the most dining variety, plus its own room service option for hotel guests, and its lineup has recently been overhauled. Black Rock Bar & Grill is an award-winning steakhouse where guests cook their own steaks tableside on a 755-degree volcanic rock. The Eatery is the property’s newest addition, serving wood-fired pizzas, breakfast, and wraps, with a Northern Wok concept still coming soon. First Light Café rounds things out with breakfast quick bites and fish baskets.
• St. Ignace — The Horseshoe Bay Restaurant serves breakfast, lunch, and dinner with Lake Huron views, while the Campfire Deli offers sandwiches, wings, and ice cream in a more casual setting. There’s no room service here, given the hotel’s smaller 81-room count.
• Christmas — Frosty’s Pub ‘n Grub is Christmas’s lone dining option, serving hearty pub fare and drinks in a rustic setting.
• Manistique — The cozy, 60-seat Mariner’s Cove Restaurant serves Kewadin comfort-food favorites, while Team Spirits Bar next door offers trivia, live music, and drinks.
• Hessel — Hessel’s casual counter, now branded the Northern Nook Deli, serves pizza, subs, and burgers all day, with patio seating available in season.

Entertainment

Three of the five sites offer dedicated entertainment venues beyond the gaming floor:

• Sault Ste. Marie — The 1,500-seat DreamMakers Theater is the flagship venue, hosting touring concerts and shows. The Rapids Lounge, next to the Huron Gaming Room, features up-and-coming acts across jazz, reggae, country, and classic rock. There is also a newer cocktail lounge inside the Huron Room called thirteen thirty-two, which has replaced the old Signatures Lounge and is open Thursday through Saturday evenings.
• St. Ignace — The Event Center hosts touring concerts, mostly country and rock acts, with a schedule available through the box office. The Northern Pines Lounge, in the center of the property, offers live bands and karaoke.
• Manistique — Team Spirits Bar doubles as Manistique’s entertainment hub, with live bands, karaoke, comedy, trivia nights, and sports on the big screen.

Christmas and Hessel don’t have dedicated entertainment venues, but the bars in both places occasionally host live entertainment and events. Frosty’s Pub ‘n Grub in Christmas serves as the property’s informal entertainment hub, while the Hessel Bar hosts scheduled live acts throughout the year.

Also worth noting is that Kewadin Casinos announced Phase Four of its ongoing renovation strategy in June 2026, with projects rolling out across all five properties through summer 2027. These include a new indoor waterpark and sports bar at Sault Ste. Marie; new or upgraded RV parks at Manistique, Christmas, and St. Ignace; hotel room upgrades at St. Ignace; and bar and deli renovations at Hessel. The waterpark at Sault Ste. Marie is expected to be the only one in Michigan’s eastern Upper Peninsula once completed.

Kewadin Casinos history

The Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians gained federal recognition in 1972, decades after its ancestors first settled the area around what is now Sault Ste. Marie. The tribe’s board voted to launch a gambling venue in 1984, and Kewadin Sault Ste. Marie opened the following year as a one-room blackjack house with 80 employees.

The St. Ignace location opened in 1987, followed by the ones in Christmas, Hessel, and Manistique in 1994. By 2005, the tribe’s casinos and other businesses had made it the largest employer in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. In February 2025, a ransomware attack forced all five Kewadin Casinos to close for roughly two weeks. They reopened in phases by early March after the tribe restored its systems and strengthened its cybersecurity.

Kewadin’s most recent investment push, a multi-property renovation project announced in June 2026, continues that pattern of reinvestment across the tribe’s properties.

Kewadin Casinos: the takeaway

With five properties spread across Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, Kewadin offers something for nearly every type of visitor, from the flagship Sault Ste. Marie resort with its theater and upcoming waterpark to the smaller, no-frills locations in Christmas and Hessel. Recent setbacks, such as the 2025 cyberattack, haven’t slowed the tribe’s investment in its properties, and the ongoing Phase Four renovations suggest Kewadin plans to keep growing. For UP travelers, Kewadin Casinos provide several great options for gaming and entertainment destinations in the region.