Rising Star Casino, located along the Ohio River, wants to move locations after seeing its attendance, employees and revenue drop. Photo from Unsplash.

By Tom Davies
Indiana Capital Chronicle

INDIANAPOLIS — Three more counties would get a chance at landing a new Indiana casino under changes made to a bill moving in the Legislature.

Revisions adopted Thursday to House Bill 1038 added northeastern Indiana’s DeKalb and Steuben counties and Wayne County in eastern Indiana as casino contenders with Fort Wayne’s Allen County.

The original version had Allen County as the sole possible location for transfer of the casino license from the Ohio River city of Rising Sun.

The revised proposal would require the company building the new casino to spend at least $500 million on the project within five years of the doors opening to gamblers.

More Relocation Competition

House Public Policy Committee Chair Ethan Manning, R-Logansport, said Allen County would be the most-likely site for such an investment but that the additional counties would provide more competition.

“These counties are included because they have in one way or other, raised their hands as being interested,” Manning said. “They’ve got a significant amount of alignment within their local governments.”

Wayne and Steuben county leaders pitched their communities as attractive locations for the new casino.

Steuben County Commissioners President Wil Howard told the committee that the county in the state’s far northeastern corner would draw in gamblers from Michigan and Ohio.

“In the past month, we’ve gained a lot of ground in terms of community support and cohesion for Steuben County being included,” Howard said.

The current Rising Star Casino – owned and operated by Las Vegas-based Full House Resorts – generates the least casino tax in the state and has seen revenues plummet since casinos opened in Ohio and gambling expanded in Kentucky.

Full House has for several years sought permission to move the casino to a new location, but the revised bill would allow all operators of Indiana’s current 13 state-regulated casinos to submit proposals for the license transfer.

Rising Sun And Indianapolis Considerations

A study released by the Indiana Gaming Commission in October found that Indianapolis was the top location for a casino relocation, followed by northeast Indiana.

While the Indianapolis region would bring the state more tax revenue, the study found it would also hurt the two casinos nearby in Shelbyville and Anderson that also have horse tracks and help support the horse racing industry. The Fort Wayne area was seen as more of an open market, impacting casinos in Ohio and Michigan.

Among details of the proposal:

• The Indiana Gaming Commission would select the new casino operator by April 15, 2027.
• While a city mayor and board of county commissioners would need to endorse any casino proposals for a site in their communities, the bill doesn’t provide for a voter referendum on local support as many previous casino projects have required.
• The company winning the project would pay a $50 million fee to the state over a five-year period.
• If Full House doesn’t obtain the transferred license, the winning company would have to pay the fair market value of the Rising Star Casino as determined by an independent consultant hired by the gaming commission.

Another provision calls for the new casino’s operator to pay a total of $30 million to the city of Rising Sun and Ohio County as compensation for their lost casino tax revenue.

Rising Sun City Attorney Andrew Baudendistel said that compensation level was inadequate as the city and county have averaged about $5 million in annual casino tax revenue in recent years. He suggested the city and county receive a small percentage of the new casino’s revenue in perpetuity.

Baudendistel also said the bill should include requirements for assisting with redevelopment of the casino site “to ensure an abandoned lot and riverboat aren’t the first thing you see when entering our city.”

Some Indianapolis legislators have pushed for a downtown casino in the city, but have been rebuffed.

“That remains very difficult for me to square, based on the evidence as studies have consistently shown Indianapolis would be the most productive location for a casino,” said committee member Rep. Blake Johnson, D-Indianapolis.

Next Steps In Debate

The Public Policy Committee voted 9-1 in favor of the bill. The House Ways and Means Committee, which is responsible for reviewing the bill’s financial impact, must advance it by a Monday deadline for the proposal to face a full House vote.

A Senate committee in December endorsed Senate Bill 70 that would allow Full House to relocate its casino to Allen County. That bill, however, has not been taken up by the Senate Appropriations Committee.

Republican House Speaker Todd Huston said he supported the casino relocation over proposals for legalizing more online gambling.

“You’re talking about a major, hundreds of millions of dollars economic impact in northeast Indiana,” Huston told reporters Thursday, Jan. 22. “I think that’s different than somebody playing on their phone.”