By STEPHEN DICK, Herald Bulletin
steve.dick@heraldbulletin.com
Gov. Mitch Daniels will be signing legislation that will bring slot machines to Hoosier Park and Indiana Downs. After years of trying to get the games, the General Assembly passed it late Sunday to the cheers of area lawmakers and officials at the horse tracks.
"It's not perfect. It's a compromise," Daniels said. "From the beginning I said there were three conditions I want to see met. First, that all of the revenue goes to the taxpayers, not to an expansion of government. We've done that through property tax relief. Second, that we don't create more gambling than we eliminate. I have had conversations with excise police and the legislation cracking down on illegal gambling does that. The third part is more difficult. I wanted to make sure we got fair value and I'm not sure that happened with the licensing fee ($250 million). With the Indiana Toll Road, for example, we got 59 times the earnings, here we only got four times.
"I understand the impact for Anderson and Madison County, but this was a statewide issue that affects all of Indiana."
Rick Moore, president and general manager of Hoosier Park, did a little sweating and held his breath as the vote came down to, literally, the 11th hour Sunday.
"I was sweating it until the final vote," he said. But it went his way.
"We're excited," he said. "This is the dawn of a new day for Hoosier Park and Anderson."
The legislation calls for 2,000 games for each horse racing track with a licensing fee of $250 million. "That's a big price to pay," said Moore.
The law goes into effect July 1 and the first licensing payment, $150 million, is due Nov. 1. The next $100 million will be due Nov. 1, 2008. "We'll be starting our planning this week," Moore said.
Those plans include a temporary structure to house the games along with part of the existing facility. Moore said the law stipulates that within two years a permanent facility will need to be constructed.
Moore said Hoosier Park will have to get the rules and regulations from the Indiana Gaming Commission. "Then we have to order slots," he said. "We'll have the games up as soon as possible."
With Nov. 1 looming as payment day, "rest assured we'll work as quickly as possible."
Jeff Smith, CEO of Centaur Racing, owners of Hoosier Park, said, "We are working feverishly on our plans and implementations.
"We're going to be working with the (Indiana) gaming commission and racing commission so that our plan feels comfortable with everyone."
He declined to go into specifics, such as the number of jobs the slot machines would create, saying that as the plan proceeds more details will be forthcoming.
Smith added that he was glad to be a part of property tax relief for Hoosiers. In fact, this bill's passage had a lot to do with lowering property taxes set to rise by 24 percent. Lawmakers grabbed onto the slots where an expected $500 million windfall from the games will help keep property taxes down.
State Sen. Tim Lanane, D-Anderson, recalled that as the day wore on Sunday, the bill's chances for passing seemed to improve.
"It was clear, in order for the state to have property tax relief," he said.
In a speech on the Senate floor, Lanane said the bill would help in two other ways. One was benefits to central Indiana with jobs at Anderson and Shelbyville. Two would be the boost to the horse-racing industry because of larger purses.
One of the sticking points, Lanane said, was the interjection of the riverboats into the bill. The riverboats would be able to dispense with having operable motors and propellers and build barges. Someone brought up the prospect of adding fees to riverboats that convert to barges.
"We decided it would complicate things to tackle that," Lanane said.
One of the interesting parts of the final bill is that the racetracks would be able to add more games in the future after filing a petition to the gaming commission.
"Patience and persistence paid off," said Lanane.