Dan Carden, Times of Northwest Indiana
dan.carden@nwi.com
INDIANAPOLIS | Gary officials on Monday proposed doing away with its two lakefront gambling boats in favor of a single land-based casino near Interstate 80/94.
"This will be a very good opportunity from an economic standpoint for development to take place," Gary City Council President Ronier Scott told a panel of state lawmakers studying gambling issues.
"Land-based would bring more businesses there and that would help the tax base," Scott said.
Majestic Star Casino owner Don Barden, who paid $253 million in 2005 for one of his Gary casino boats, told lawmakers it's time Indiana moved away from the riverboat model for casinos.
"It's obsolete. It's a dinosaur now. We've got to upgrade to the 21st century," Barden said.
Gary Mayor Rudy Clay, state Rep. Charlie Brown and state Sen. Earline Rogers also spoke in favor of moving the Gary casino off Lake Michigan.
Clay envisions locating the new casino at the Broadway exit of the Borman Expressway, near Indiana University Northwest. The facility also could be placed closer to I-65, Brown said.
Either way, the casino would be much more visible.
"At Buffington Harbor you have zero people passing by," Clay said. He estimates more than 600,000 vehicles a day would pass a Borman Expressway casino.
But a new Gary casino is still far from a sure bet.
State law allows a casino location to be moved within a Lake County city, but the law would have to be changed to allow land-based gambling in Gary. Lawmakers also would have to decide whether to allow land-based gambling elsewhere in the state.
At the same time, Majestic Star I and II operate on two separate gambling licenses. Barden suggested relocating the second license from Gary, possibly to Fort Wayne, a move Gary officials support.
However, representatives from Blue Chip Casino in Michigan City and Hoosier Park, a horse track and casino in Anderson, both said they'd oppose moving the license to northeast Indiana. Fort Wayne City Councilman Mitch Harper told lawmakers there was little desire for a casino in his town.
Lawmakers also questioned how much outside development would follow a land-based casino.
"What kind of business, besides pawn shops, does a casino bring in?" asked state Sen. Ron Alting, R-Lafayette.
Alting said he's found on gambling trips to Atlantic City, N.J., that there's isn't much to see if you step off the boardwalk.
Clay said he's confident hotels, restaurants and shopping would spring up near a new casino.
Barden isn't so sure.
"There's not a lot of development around a casino other than what the casino puts in itself," Barden said.
Barden said he would develop the property around a Gary land-based casino, but the current economic climate likely would prevent quick construction of hotels and shopping.
A gambling study committee is meeting soon to consider ways to protect Indiana's gambling revenue from new casinos and gaming in Illinois, Michigan, Ohio and Kentucky. Gambling taxes are the third largest source of state revenue, behind sales and income taxes.