Add some gaming action to your Grand Rapids stay at Gun Lake Casino Resort, which is owned and operated by the Match-E-Be-Nash-She-Wish Band of Pottawatomi Indians (Gun Lake Tribe).
Just 25 minutes from downtown Grand Rapids, it offers more than 2,500 slot games, a state-of-the-art poker room and sports betting as well as blackjack, craps, roulette, poker and baccarat tables. Get the GLC Rewards Card before your visit for even more ways to win, from huge cash drawings to car giveaways.
Take time out from wagering to enjoy a meal at eight on-site restaurants, including upscale Shkodé Chophouse and all-you-can-savor Harvest Buffet. Unwind and socialize at four on-site bars. See concerts and televised sports events – many free to GLC Rewards Card holders – at the 131 Sportsbar & Lounge. Get pampered at the MnoYé Spa and Wawyé Oasis, which features a 21+ VIP Pool and fun-filled Family Pool, both open-year-round in a beautiful glass atrium.
The Casino is open 24/7, so you can easily fit a visit into your Grand Rapids itinerary. Restaurants and resort features have set operating hours, check the Gun Lake Casino Resort website for specific times.
Where to Stay
Stay in downtown Grand Rapids to explore 300+ restaurants, shops, cultural attractions and entertainment venues within a 10-minute walk of 13 excellent hotels. Must-see downtown attractions include the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Museum, Grand Rapids African American Museum & Archives, Grand Rapids Art Museum, Grand Rapids Children’s Museum, Grand Rapids Downtown Market, Grand Rapids Public Museum and eight of the city’s 35+ craft breweries. (We’re not known as Beer City USA for nothing.) Entertainment options include live music, ballet, opera, symphony, theatre and the nation’s hottest touring music and comedy acts, which entertain fans year-round in the 12,000-seat Van Andel Arena and in warm weather at the 12,000+-seat outdoor Acrisure Amphitheater.
Van Andel Arena also hosts the Grand Rapids Griffins hockey team (April-October), Grand Rapids Gold basketball team (November-March) and Grand Rapids Rise female volleyball team (January-April). The West Michigan Whitecaps, a Detroit Tigers affiliate, play in Comstock Park, nine minutes from downtown and a half hour from Gun Lake Casino Resort.
The 25-minute drive from downtown to Gun Lake Casino Resort is all highway and easy to navigate – just take US-131 south out of the city to exit 61.
If you’d like to stay a little closer to the casino, consider a hotel in one of the city’s southern suburbs. Kentwood, Wyoming and Byron Center offer hotels with easy access to US-131 along with lots of shopping, dining and entertainment options of their own – including multiple golf courses, hiking & biking trails, Tanger Outlet Mall, Craig’s Cruisers Family Fun Park, Brass Ring Brewing Company and TwoGuys Brewing. Be sure to download the Beer City Brewsader® passport app and use it to check in when you visit local breweries – check in to just 8 of them and you’ll get a free t-shirt!
Gun Lake-Grand Rapids Connections
Gun Lake Casino Resort partners with Live Nation Entertainment on GLC Live at 20 Monroe , a popular downtown GR venue that hosts a mix of live music, entertainment and special events. Check the GLC Live schedule of upcoming concerts.
The Gun Lake Tribe also co-owns one of the most iconic buildings in downtown Grand Rapids, in partnership with the Nottawaseppi Huron Band of Potawatomi. Built in 1914, McKay was GR’s original high-rise. Today, the first floor of the mixed-use office, residential and commercial building is home to Biggby Coffee , Kilwin’s Chocolates & Ice Cream Shop , Poké Toki restaurant and Sushi Yama restaurant. The Ballroom at McKay is one of the city’s most unique and elegant event venues.
The First Peoples of this Place
The Pottawatomi are part of the historic Three Fires Confederacy, an alliance of the Pottawatomi (aka Bodewadmi), Ottawa (Odawa) and Chippewa (Ojibwe), who make up the collective Anishinaabe people. These Native Americans established villages in and around Grand Rapids more than three centuries ago.
Downtown Grand Rapids is a great place to learn more about the Anishinaabe before or after your casino trip. Visit Ah-Nab-Awen Park to see earthen mounds symbolizing the burial mounds built here by the Hopewell people, ancestors to the People of the Three Fires. (Ah-Nab-Awen means “resting place” in the Anishinaabemowin language.) The park also contains a statue of Nishnabe Gemaw, an early Native American leader. The statue was commissioned by a committee of elders from the Odaway, Ojibwe and Pottawatomi tribes.
A few hundred feet south of the tribute to Nishnabe Genway is a statue of Noahquageshik, aka Nawquageezhig, aka Chief Noonday, who led the Grand River Band of Ottawa Indians. It stands at the west end of the historic Blue Bridge pedestrian crossing over the Grand River.
Both statues are included in our Grand Rapids Sculptures: Downtown West walking tour.
Just north of the Chief Noonday statue is the entrance to the Grand Rapids Public Museum, which is reopening its Anishinabek: The People of This Place exhibit in fall 2026. The original exhibit, now 30+ years old, is being renovated and expanded to include updated technology, natural elements, opportunities to dig deeper into topics central to today’s Anishinaabe communities and unique art from local Anishinaabe artists. The Museum is telling Anishinaabe stories through other exhibits and displays until the new exhibit opens.
