INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. (WOWO): The bid by Las Vegas based Full House Resorts to move the Rising Star Casino from Rising Sun in Southern Indiana to New Haven has been stopped for now after the Indiana Legislature refused to advance the bill put forth by Senator Andy Zay (R-Huntington) to do so.
About a dozen people showed up to support the casino, however they were outnumbered by about 2-1 by those opposing it. Senator Ron Alting (R-Lafayette) pulled the bill and said that as chairman of the Public Policy Committee that he does not intend to allow a vote on the bill this year.
Although this is a significant win for those opposing the casino, including the Coalition for a Better Allen County, the issue isn’t fully settled.
One area of concern is that when previous casino moves happened that relocated casinos to Gary and Terre Haute, both had to pass referendums along with other counties who currently have casinos. A referendum was not part of the original bill as put forward by Andy Zay.
He says there will be a number of other opportunities to amend the bill and said that a referendum could be added – and that there could be a chance for competitive bidding for the license and project which means Full House could lose the license altogether.
The move would cost Full House an initial 150 million dollars, paid to the State of Indiana in 30 million dollar increments.
Allen County’s Cathie Humbarger called the casino a poor investment in light of the flood of online gaming options available and called brick and mortar casinos “the dinosaur of gambling”. Humbarger also pressed Zay over why he was sponsoring the legislation and not a New Haven Lawmaker. Zay responded by talking about his rural roots and pointed to his decade-long friendship with New Haven Mayor Steve McMichael.
All three local legislators which include Senators Liz Brown and Tyler Johnson as well as Representative Dave Heine all oppose the casino. New Haven Mayor Steve McMichael gave what the Indiana Capital Chronicle called “full throated support of the bill”.
Other testimony questioned the actual value of the casino from the standpoint of jobs – noting that the average hourly rate of pay for gambling service workers in 2023 was $16.53 per hour – well below the median wage of $26.53 per hour in Northeast Indiana.
Find the full article from the Indiana Capital Chronicle here.
