![Michigan’s Old Casinos Weren’t What You’re Led To Believe](http://townsquare.media/site/691/files/2022/07/attachment-hillsdale-2.jpg?w=980&q=75)
Michigan’s Old Casinos Weren’t What You’re Led To Believe
I'll tell ya right off the bat: for most people under thirty, a "casino" is where you go to gamble, play slot machines, lose money, make a few bucks then lose it all, etc.
But back in the 20th Century, the word 'casino' meant something entirely different. Other terms used for a casino were pavilion, dance hall, music hall, club house, honky-tonk, roadhouse, ballroom, auditorium, concert hall, and amphitheater. In other words, you went there to hear live bands and dance.
Throughout the decades all the greats played at Michigan casinos: Benny Goodman, Glenn Miller, Chuck Berry, Louis Armstrong, Stevie Wonder, The Supremes, Four Seasons, the Dorsey Brothers, Beach Boys, Led Zeppelin.....you name the performer, they were probably in a Michigan 'casino' anywhere from the 1920s thru the 1970s.
Then things started to change in Michigan as far as gambling laws.
1933: Horserace betting is allowed
1972: State lottery is passed
1984: The first Indian casino opens in Keweenaw Bay
1993: Chippewa tribe signs contract with Michigan and opens Soaring Eagle
1996: The first 'Mega-Million' lottery ticket was sold
1997: The Michigan Gaming Control & Revenue Act is signed into law
1997: Three casinos open in Detroit
From there, Michigan acquired a total of 26 casinos...a place where blue-haired little old ladies play the slots and blow their Social Security checks.
Quite a far cry from the dance hall casinos of the early 1900s.
The photo gallery below does NOT depict Michigan's gambling casinos; rather, a small collection of the original dance hall casinos that permeated the state in the early part of the 20th Century.
Michigan's Old Casinos Aren't What You Think
MORE MICHIGANIA:
Vintage Saugatuck: 1860s-1950s
Jackson-Area Parks & Recreation: 1900-1960
Vintage Photos of Montrose
More From 99.1 WFMK
![A Look Inside Old Michigan Department Stores: 1900-1916](http://townsquare.media/site/691/files/2024/07/attachment-big-rapids-early-1900s.jpg?w=980&q=75)
![A Skeleton Appears on the Lake Michigan Shore Every Few Years](http://townsquare.media/site/691/files/2024/07/attachment-mlive-youtube-1-18.jpg?w=980&q=75)
![The Ghost Town of Wildwood: Cheboygan County, Michigan](http://townsquare.media/site/691/files/2024/07/attachment-winter-time-1910-a.jpg?w=980&q=75)
![If You Want Michigan’s Best Donut, Go To This Bakery in Jackson](http://townsquare.media/site/691/files/2024/07/attachment-127.jpg?w=980&q=75)
![The Only Source of Water That Supplied an Entire Town: Ogemaw Springs, Michigan, Late 1800s](http://townsquare.media/site/691/files/2024/07/attachment-chosen-won-youtube-14-4.jpg?w=980&q=75)
![Remembering Michigan’s A&P Stores: When Did They Go Belly-Up?](http://townsquare.media/site/691/files/2024/07/attachment-1941-public-domain-via-wiki-1.jpg?w=980&q=75)
![Once Prosperous, Now a Shadow Town: Prescott, Michigan](http://townsquare.media/site/691/files/2024/07/attachment-former-business-3.jpg?w=980&q=75)
![The Two Michigan Ghost Towns Furthermost from the Ohio Border](http://townsquare.media/site/691/files/2024/07/attachment-junet-2.jpg?w=980&q=75)
![Was There a Place Called ‘Purgatory’ in Michigan? Oh, Yeah…](http://townsquare.media/site/691/files/2024/07/attachment-haunted-michigan-youtube-4.jpg?w=980&q=75)