Gary inland casino bill won't die quietly

INDIANAPOLIS -- A new proposal to build an inland casino in Gary was offered by the city's leaders to a House committee Wednesday, but no vote was taken to write the idea back into a General Assembly gambling bill.

Rep. Trent Van Haaften, D-Mount Vernon and chairman of the House public policy committee, said he'd rather the full chamber be allowed to vote on the land-based gambling proposal. He said the bill would head next to the House floor.

However, Democrat Rep. Charlie Brown of Gary said he will ask House Speaker B. Patrick Bauer to assign the bill to the ways and means committee, where a handful of representatives could be asked to vote on the idea within days.

"I would rather the amendment be done in committee," Brown said.

Casino Association of Indiana President Michael D. Smith declined to comment on whether a majority of his members continue to oppose inland gambling.

Opposition from his group helped kill land-based language in the bill this year.

The new proposal from Brown, Gary Sen. Earline Rogers and Gary Mayor Rudy Clay would be to keep one of the city's two casino licenses in the current Majestic Star footprint at Buffington Harbor.

Meanwhile, they've suggested the General Assembly allow the other license to be moved elsewhere within Gary. The long-targeted site of a land-based casino in Gary has been the intersection of Interstate 65 and the Borman Expressway.

Brown, Rogers and Clay testified together, reminding committee members how Indiana's gambling laws were written by Gary legislators and about the financial hardship the city has faced lately.

"Gary is a distressed city, officially," Clay said.

Brown asked committee members to let go of their negative impressions of Lake County, telling them his constituents are just like theirs and have the same needs.

"It's just that we've fallen on hard times," Brown said.

Sen. Luke Kenley, a Noblesville Republican who chairs the Senate appropriations committee, said gambling is an established industry in Indiana that needs to be protected as it expands in Ohio, Michigan, Illinois and Kentucky.

Whether people agree with casino gambling or not, Kenley said, it contributes millions of dollars to state coffers and creates thousands of jobs.

"It's an established fact that it's going to happen," Kenley said.

The bill considered Wednesday, Senate Bill 405, contains various changes to state gambling law. Among them is the authorization of advance deposit wagering, transparency for local development agreements and a change in admissions tax distributions.

Van Haaften's committee approved two amendments dealing with local development agreements, racinos and card tournaments. It then endorsed the bill 11-1.