Legislation aimed at helping Indiana’s gaming industry stem a sharp decline in revenues passed its first test in the General Assembly when a House committee approved the bill Thursday.
Rep. Tom Dermody’s (R-LaPorte) bill allows Indiana’s riverboats to move inland onto their existing footprint. And the state’s two racetrack casinos can add table games with live dealers.
The live table games are capped at half of the number of existing electronic table games. And for every live table game the racinos add, they must eliminate one of the electronic ones.
Centaur Gaming runs both Indiana racinos. Company President Jim Brown says live table games are a more competitive product than their electronic counterparts.
“Live table games would also result in numerous economic benefits to the state of Indiana and our host communities including jobs, tax revenues and result in additional capital investment,” Brown says.
But Rising Star Casino in southeastern Indiana, which is run by Full House Resorts, says it doesn’t have the money to move on land. Full House Resorts CEO Dan Lee recently took over the company. He says he’s trying to figure out ways to boost his facility through other means -- and allowing racinos to add live dealers could cripple those plans.
“How do we bring in celebrity restaurateurs and fix up things and everything, and then out of left field I heard, ‘Oh, you might get stabbed in the back - they’re going to let tables into the racinos.’ And I thought, ‘Well Jesus, do we throw good money after bad,’” Lee says.
The bill also includes several tax breaks and incentives, which Lee says he does support.
The legislation also includes several tax incentives for the gaming industry. The bill now heads to the House Ways and Means committee, where lawmakers will more closely scrutinize the measure’s fiscal implications.