![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 1240 WJIM AM
![This Luxurious Michigan Home For Sale Has Massive Fish Tanks Inside It](http://townsquare.media/site/667/files/2022/07/attachment-Untitled-design-7.jpg?w=980&q=75)
![How Saugatuck, Michigan Looked From the 1860s-1950s](http://townsquare.media/site/691/files/2022/07/attachment-steamer-arriving-1908.jpg?w=980&q=75)
![What’s Happening in Mid-Michigan This Weekend: Bologna, Jazz & More](http://townsquare.media/site/694/files/2022/07/attachment-CommCal-072722.jpg?w=980&q=75)
![Jim Harbaugh’s Views On NIL Are Transformational When Michigan Stands To Have Someone Else Pay For The Transaction](http://townsquare.media/site/668/files/2022/07/attachment-GettyImages-1357211241.jpg?w=980&q=75)
![Free Concerts At Beautiful Lake Lansing Every Friday Night](http://townsquare.media/site/693/files/2022/07/attachment-image-ll-bandshell-2.jpg?w=980&q=75)
![Exciting Event Provides Happy Time For Children’s Miracle Network](http://townsquare.media/site/693/files/2022/07/attachment-image-dq-cmn-7-1.jpg?w=980&q=75)
![These Michigan Stores Have Sold $1,000,000+ Lottery Tix This Year](http://townsquare.media/site/694/files/2022/07/attachment-Lottery-Winners-Cover.jpg?w=980&q=75)
![Only Days Remaining To Own Part of the Mackinac Bridge](http://townsquare.media/site/690/files/2022/07/attachment-Untitled-design-2022-07-27T081915.882.jpg?w=980&q=75)
![The Last Witch Trial Happened in Kalamazoo in 1929](http://townsquare.media/site/689/files/2022/07/attachment-Untitled-design-27.jpg?w=980&q=75)