‘Destabilizing' Indiana casino relocation study could also recommend new license
Indiana legislation to study relocation of a poor-performing casino's license could also lead to a rare license expansion — and regulators have already gotten started.
One witness at a Tuesday hearing called the study itself 'destabilizing' for the industry.
'The way that companies would look at this, is studying it would imply that there's an interest in moving it … or creating another one,' said Jim Purucker, a lobbyist representing Caesars Entertainment and its three Hoosier casinos.
He said it's 'very fair' for licensees 'to suggest that there's a move afoot.'
Senate Bill 43 previously required the Indiana Gaming Commission to contract out for a study to 'identify the top three regions in the state' for a license relocation.
After the committee accepted an amendment by consent Tuesday, that analysis would only take place 'subject to available funding.' It narrowed the study to two regions — but expanded it by striking relocation-specific language.
'I think if you just look at a map of casinos in the state, it's pretty clear the biggest hole in the market is northeast Indiana. … The other thing that has been floated multiple times over the years has been an Indianapolis casino,' Rep. Ethan Manning said.
He authored the amendment and chairs the committee.
'I think it leaves us a possibility of studying that. … I'm not even sure there would be an appropriate third region to study,' Manning, R-Logansport, continued. Still, he noted that the legislation doesn't dictate locations, and the contractor would choose.
Purucker said the study is 'tremendously destabilizing' for the industry and called it 'another factor' in capital expenditure decisions.
'It's just not how we treat any other industry,' Purucker said. 'We don't talk about, you know, how we want to put other competitors in place with other industries.'
Manning, however, said more information is preferable.
'It'd be good to … have professionals do the study rather than just (us) just deciding things without the data,' he told Purucker.
Rep. Kyle Miller, D-Fort Wayne, said it's also 'entirely possible' that researchers conclude a 14th license 'isn't valuable to the state.'
Senate Bill 43 began as an empty vehicle bill — and was only overhauled after the early death of a measure relocating a struggling casino operating near the Indiana-Kentucky border.
Full House Resorts hoped Senate Bill 293 would let it move the Rising Star Casino Resort 150 miles north to New Haven, in northeast Indiana. But a Senate committee's chair killed the proposal after listening to about 20 opponents, who feared gambling addictions and other risks to their community.
Rep. Justin Moed, D-Indianapolis, asked Sen. Andy Zay — who authored both bills — whether he'd support the study if its recommendations were to point outside northeast Indiana.
'Yeah. I mean, we're here to represent the whole state, and I think that's the genesis of this conversation,' Zay, R-Huntington, replied. 'We have a way under-performing license that really has brought this conversation on … I think it's incumbent upon us to look at our 13 licenses and mak(e) sure that those are being maximized, wherever that would be.'
The committee approved the amended bill on a unanimous, 11-0 vote.
Regulators would also now have to present their findings to the State Budget Committee by November, a month later than previously proposed.
The Indiana Gaming Commission has already made headway on the draft's mandates.
In a request for quotations — with submissions due March 14 — regulators wrote, 'This study is being sought in response to currently pending legislation,' and listed requirements copied from the bill 'as currently written.'
The commission re-emphasized the bill's pending nature while answering some of the questions asked by interested, in another document obtained by the Capital Chronicle.
'Greater clarity might be possible once the Bill is finalized,' regulators wrote.
Editor Niki Kelly contributed reporting.
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