By Dan Carden, Times of Northwest Indiana
dan.carden@nwi.com
INDIANAPOLIS | Gary's dreams of a land-based casino were all but destroyed Tuesday night.
The Senate Appropriations Committee voted 7-5 to strip from Senate Bill 405 the language authorizing Indiana riverboat casinos, including the Majestic Star casinos in Gary, to relocate on land.
The decision came after testimony last week by the Casino Association of Indiana that its casino members do not support gaming legislation that includes land-based casinos. Some casinos fear they could lose business to other Indiana casinos that relocate inland and attract more customers.
State Sen. Earline Rogers, D-Gary, said the casino association's position and the committee's decision were both short-sighted.
"If you don't do it this year, this window of opportunity may not be available if you wait until next year," Rogers said.
State Sen. Luke Kenley, R-Noblesville, the committee chairman, said he believes taking land-based gaming out of the proposal is a mistake but worried that if it remained in the legislation, the rest of the gaming proposals might not be approved by the full Senate.
Kenley joined the committee's four Democrats, including state Sen. Karen Tallian, D-Ogden Dunes, in voting to keep land-based gaming in the proposal. Seven Republicans, including state Sen. Ed Charbonneau, R-Valparaiso, voted to take it out.
Rogers said she still plans to work with representatives in the House to restore land-based gaming if the Senate proposal makes it to that body. A full Senate vote is expected next week.
She admitted, however, that Tuesday's committee decision "is a setback."
The Legislature's Gaming Study Committee included a land-based casino in Gary among its recommendations for ways Indiana casinos can remain strong in the face of new casino competition from other states.
Gary officials, including Rogers, Democratic state Rep. Charlie Brown and Mayor Rudy Clay told the committee last week Gary needs the tax dollars and economic development they believe would accompany a land-based casino in the Steel City.
Majestic Star President Don Barden has said he'd like to relocate from his two boats on Lake Michigan to a single land-based site adjacent to the Borman Expressway near Interstate 65.
The gaming legislation, without the land-based casino component, now advances to the full Senate. The proposal allows permanently moored boats to get rid of their marine engines and sailing crews, allow horse race bets to be made over the Internet and hold off-boat gaming tournaments.