Indiana Casino Study Bill Clears General Assembly, Moves to Gov. Mike Braun’s Desk

Posted on: April 30, 2025, 09:43h. 

Last updated on: April 30, 2025, 09:47h.

Devin O'Connor @CasinoorgDevinO Read More
Expertise: Asia Pacific Gaming, Commercial Gaming, Legislation, Politics.
  • Legislation in Indiana to study untapped casino markets has passed the legislature
  • Rising Star Casino Resort is seeking permission to relocate
  • Lawmakers believe the northeastern part of Indiana is attractive for a new casino

Lawmakers in Indiana want to study where casinos might relocate to generate more gaming revenue, create more jobs, and deliver the state more tax revenue.

Indiana casino legislation Rising Star
The interior of a Rising Star Casino Resort hotel room with the riverboat seen through the window. Legislation in Indiana to possibly allow struggling casinos like Rising Star to relocate is expected to pass. The bill would first require a market study to identify the most appealing untapped gaming markets in the Hoosier State. (Image: Expedia)

Senate Bill 43, coauthored by Sens. Andy Zay (R-Huntington), Ron Alting (R-Lafayette), and Lonnie Randolph (D-East Chicago), seeks to require the Indiana Gaming Commission (IGC) to contract an independent gaming industry research firm to conduct a study to identify the top two regions in the state where a gaming operator currently holding a casino license could relocate.

Indiana’s casino market is oversaturated in the southeast region of our state. With so many casinos competing for business, they cannot all be successful,” Zay said.

“I believe allowing a casino to relocate to the northeast region of Indiana would provide a solution. This would allow for huge economic boosts and infrastructure development in the community,” Zay added.

Caesars Southern Indiana, Belterra, Hollywood, and Rising Sun are all in border counties located in the southeastern region of the Hoosier State across the Ohio River from Kentucky.

Rising Star Casino Seeks Move 

Zay filed SB43 with his co-sponsors after legislation he led to allow Full House Resorts to relocate its gaming concession from Rising Sun in Ohio County to Allen County’s New Haven failed. Senate Bill 293 proposed providing Las Vegas-based Full House the right to shutter its Rising Star Casino Resort in favor of a new brick-and-mortar casino in the northeastern part of the state.  

Full House had agreed to SB293’s terms, including a $150 million relocation fee and a guarantee that it would pay a $50 million penalty if the company sold the new property within five years. If SB293 had become law, Full House officials said the company would have invested $500 million to open a new commercial casino resort in the city just east of Fort Wayne.

Alting was responsible for shelving SB293 in favor of a comprehensive study to identify untapped gaming markets. Alting chairs the Senate Public Policy Committee where the Rising Star Casino bill was tabled.

In anticipation of Indiana Gov. Mike Braun (R) signing SB43, the IGC last month completed a request for bids to carry out the casino market study. The IGC is reviewing the solicitations and is expected to render a winner soon after Braun signs the measure. 

Study Components

The gaming market research firm picked by the IGC will need to project annual gaming and corresponding tax revenues for the top two identified regions where casinos don’t currently operate. The researchers will also need to provide clarity on how casinos in the two areas would impact current properties, how patronage and gaming revenues from out-of-state visitors would look, and how gaming in those areas would impact the state horse racing industry.

The study would also need to assess how new casinos might impact the tourism industry in those areas and how their gaming operations would impact tribal casinos.

The report is to be submitted to the IGC no later than Nov. 1, 2025. The gaming regulatory body would then present the findings to the State Budget Committee.