Indiana Bill Would Grease Skids on $750M Downtown Indianapolis Casino

• Indiana senator files bill for $750M casino in downtown Indianapolis.
• Full House could move Rising Star license from Rising Sun.
• Rival Allen County bill advances as leaders fear harm to racinos.

A $750 million casino could be coming to downtown Indianapolis – that’s if a bill filed by State Sen. Aaron Freeman (R-Indianapolis) comes to fruition, as first reported by The Indianapolis Business Journal (IBJ).

Senate Bill 244 would allow Las Vegas-based Full House Resorts to relocate the license for its Rising Star Casino Resort from Rising Sun in rural southeast Indiana to the state capital. That’s provided it commits to a $750 million investment, pays a $25 million licensing fee, and compensates Rising Sun and surrounding Ohio County with one full year’s worth of the casino’s tax revenues.

Maximum Revenue

A state-commissioned study found that a downtown Indianapolis casino could generate around $170 million a year in gambling taxes and nearly $500 million in annual revenue, making it the most lucrative option for the state.

Support for an Indianapolis casino is growing among local lawmakers, business groups, and tourism officials, although the mayor’s office has so far stopped short of taking a position. Freeman argues that if maximizing tax revenue is the goal, Indianapolis is the obvious choice.

It’s clear that if the goal is revenue, you put a casino in downtown Indianapolis every day of the week and twice on Sunday,” Freeman told IBJ in December. “If the goal is something else, then somebody needs to tell me that, and then we’ll adjust our conduct accordingly.”

However, not everyone is on board with the proposal. State House Speaker Todd Huston opposes adding another casino in central Indiana, largely because a new Indianapolis casino would significantly hurt nearby casinos in Shelbyville and Anderson, the Horseshoe Indianapolis and Harrah’s Hoosier Park & Racing Casino. The study estimates those venues could lose about 25% of their revenue to a downtown casino.

Competing Bill

Meanwhile, a competing bill already wending its way through the legislature would instead relocate Full House’s license to New Haven, Allen County.

While an Allen County casino would generate far less tax revenue — about 36% of what Indianapolis could produce — it would have minimal impact on existing casinos elsewhere in the state, making it a politically safer option for some lawmakers.

Full House has been itching to move out of southeastern Indiana for some time as recent casino expansion in Kentucky and Ohio has eaten into revenues. The company has previously expressed interest in moving the license to Allen County but has not publicly endorsed a relocation to Indianapolis.