Gary Mayor Karen Freeman-Wilson said she expects to spend plenty of time in Indianapolis over the next few months to stump for a state Senate bill aimed at shoring up the city’s economy.
The bill faces tweaks, GOP scrutiny and competition from other gambling measures.
“We’re pleased, but we know there’s always a negotiating process with any legislation,” Freeman-Wilson said. “Hopefully, in the end, we will craft something that everyone can get behind.”
The bill, authored by state Sen. Eddie Melton, D-Gary, sets up a revenue stream for the city, if the state permits the sale and relocation of Gary’s second riverboat license. It requires that site to be at least 100 miles from Gary.
Under the bill, Gary’s other license could be moved away from the Lake Michigan lakefront in Buffington Harbor to an undisclosed inland site in Gary.
In the fall, Gary officials took a delegation of lawmakers on a tour that included Buffington Harbor in order to make a pitch for a transportation hub for rail, shipping and trucking. The Gary Port Authority would coordinate the operation.
Freeman-Wilson said the visit was well-received.
“It’s a matter of how do you make it happen and make sure you don’t do it at the expense of other communities. That’s not our intent,” she said of the legislation.
Officials in Hammond and East Chicago, which also have casinos on Lake Michigan, voiced concern when Gary began talking about establishing a land-based casino that could draw patrons from the lakefront.
Melton’s bill calls for the state gaming commission to study the impact of Gary’s move inland and recommend a plan that would lessen the financial fallout to East Chicago and Hammond.
The bill could deliver Gary from the financial abyss it’s staring at, if its provisions hold. It calls for Gary to receive 20 percent of the adjusted gross receipts generated by the second license’s new location for 20 years.
Many consider Terre Haute a likely home for the second license because one of the owners of Spectacle Entertainment, which is buying Majestic Star’s two Gary operations, is from Terre Haute. The state gaming commission still has to approve the sale transaction, announced late last year.
An undetermined portion from the sale of second license sale would also go to Gary and be split between the city, Port Authority and a new city community foundation.
The money would help offset deficits incurred by the city in recent years due to a loss of population, businesses and tax caps. Freeman-Wilson estimated the deficit at $17 million last year.
Its revenue from the two Majestic Star boats has dwindled. A new land-based casino could deliver higher tax revenue.
A second bill, filed by state Sen. Mark Messmer, R-Jasper, and state Sen. Jon Ford, R-Terre Haute, seeks to move Gary’s second license downstate to Vigo County, site of Terre Haute. Under their bill, no money would go to Gary.
The bill also legalizes sports betting at Hoosier casinos.
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