Dockside bill clears Ind. House

Chris Sundheim

Wednesday, Feb. 27, 2002 | 10:19 a.m.

INDIANAPOLIS -- The Indiana House voted Tuesday to expand legalized gambling by relaxing the rules governing riverboat casinos and allowing pull-tab machines at horse racing tracks and some off-track betting parlors.

Lawmakers voted 55-43 to approve the bill, sending it to a conference committee where House and Senate members will try to work out differences during the final weeks of the legislative session. The Senate already passed its version last month.

The proposal would authorize riverboat casinos on Lake Michigan and the Ohio River to remain permanently docked, rather than making regularly scheduled cruises. Patrons would be able to come and go as they wish.

Supporters on the House floor and observers in the chamber's gallery broke into applause after Tuesday's vote.

Casinos have sought permission to conduct dockside operations to offer customers more convenience and compete more effectively with casinos in Illinois, where dockside gambling has been allowed since 1999. In return, riverboats would pay significantly higher taxes.

The bill would also transfer a dormant casino license for Patoka Lake to a new historic-preservation district covering West Baden Springs and French Lick in south-central Indiana. Proceeds from a casino there would be used to restore and renovate two historic resort hotels.

Rep. Jerry Denbo, D-French Lick, has long sought a casino as a way to attract tourists and investment to his impoverished district.

"My hometown of French Lick today is close to becoming a ghost town," Denbo said. "There is nowhere to build a factory. It's either a floodplain or a hillside."

The legislation would allow electronic pull-tabs -- similar to slot machines -- at the pari-mutuel horse racing track in Anderson, another track being built near Shelbyville, and two off-track betting parlors in Indianapolis. Marion County currently has one such parlor.

Voters in those counties would have to approve them in referendum votes first.

In addition, the bill would permit a casino barge in Michigan City if an Indian tribe opens a competing land-based casino across the state line in southwestern Michigan. Barges allow for larger casinos where all gambling is conducted on a single floor, similar to casinos in Las Vegas.

Critics of gambling said passage of the bill would create more gambling addicts and make the state's economy more dependent on casinos.

"Utah is the only state that has no legalized gambling, and it has the healthiest growing economy today," Rep. Dennis Kruse, R-Auburn, said. "I think we have had our fill of gambling, and we need to stop this."

Despite the bill's passage, many lawmakers harbor doubts about expanding gambling at all. On Monday the House rejected a proposal that would have placed a 10-year moratorium on gambling expansions. It received 41 votes, just 10 votes shy of approval.

Supporters acknowledged the legislation contained some unpopular provisions.

"I know this bill has a lot of things you don't like," Denbo said. "Let's keep this bill moving. Let's get the bill in the shape we want it and give a few people in town what they need."