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Efforts to move the gaming license for one of Indiana’s underperforming casinos to a Fort Wayne suburb have stalled this year, but a newly filed bill seeks to carry momentum into future legislative sessions.
Sen. Andy Zay, R-Huntington, authored the original bill allowing Full House Resorts to move the casino from Rising Sun in southeast Indiana to the Allen County community of New Haven, just east of Fort Wayne. The Senate Public Policy Committee heard multiple hours of testimony on the measure last week, but Sen. Ron Alting, R-Lafayette, who chairs the committee, didn’t take a vote on the bill, essentially killing the proposal.
Zay has filed a new bill that calls for the Indiana Gaming Commission to authorize a study that would outline the three best locations in the state for a new casino.
“It is beyond time that the state strategically look into the performance and location of our gaming licenses in Indiana,” Zay said in a written statement. “I trust this independent study will help myself and my legislative colleagues work towards an amicable and sustainable solution for our state gaming licenses.”
The new Senate Bill 43 mirrors a common legislative practice used when a measure doesn’t pass by taking the main topic and commissioning a study on it in the hopes of advancing the issue in the future. Zay previously told Inside INdiana Business he didn’t have the appetite to soldier on this session with the main thrust of the license move but would try for legislation authorizing a study.
“It’s still an underperforming license in an oversaturated market. I took up the mantle, but I think this is likely a conversation that will reappear before the legislature every year until a decision is made,” Zay said.
The language of bill would require the Indiana Gaming Commission to contract with an independent consultant to examine the best sites in the state for where a casino license should relocate. Full House coveted a move to New Haven, as Fort Wayne is the largest metro area in the state to not have a casino.
New Haven is also at least a 90-minute drive from any other existing casinos, which would help maximize Full House’s profits. But the company argued that would help Indiana at the same time since a New Haven casino would draw revenue mostly from Michigan and Ohio residents as opposed to cannibalizing other casinos in Indiana.
The Rising Sun casino has struggled with falling revenue since Ohio and Kentucky legalized gambling. There are seven gaming facilities within a one-hour drive of the facility across three states.
The new bill is assigned to the Senate Appropriations Committee. A hearing has not yet been set.
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