By Emily Ketterer
TheStatehouseFile.com

INDIANAPOLIS — The controversial gambling expansion bill is on its way to Gov. Eric Holcomb after it passed through both chambers only hours before the General Assembly wrapped up the 2019 legislative session.

Ultimately, the decision was less partisan and more geographical as the bill’s numerous provisions – from an inland casino in Gary to a new casino in Terre Haute – directly impacts many lawmakers’ home districts. It passed the House in votes because the issue covers a number of items and gambling directly impacts lawmakers’ communities and brings out personal beliefs.

House Bill 1015 passed first in the Senate, 37-12. Nine Democrats joined 28 Republicans in supporting it, with 12 Republicans voting no.

The House approved it 59-36, with 22 Democrats and 37 Republicans voting yes, and 27 Republicans and nine Democrats in opposition.

Among the ‘no’ votes: Rep. Todd Huston, the Fishers Republican who authored the measure, surprising some of his colleagues as he pushed the red button moments after presenting the bill to his colleagues. Rep. Ed Clere, a New Albany Republican who sits next to Huston in the House chamber, asked: “Did you mean to do that?”

Huston nodded yes.

As lawmakers filed out of the Statehouse, Huston told reporters said he hadn’t told anyone of his decision to vote no but had felt it was his responsibility to negotiate a final version and present a bill most of his caucus backed.

Overall, HB 1015 allows two Gary casinos to move inland from where they currently sit in Buffington Harbor to a new site near Interstate 94. It also approves a new casino for Terre Haute and legalizes sports betting for ages 21 and up, including via mobile devices rso long as they register with one of the state’s casinos.

With this expansion, Indiana will add one new casino to the 11 existing casinos and two racinos. The racinos, in Anderson Shelbyville, will have live dealers in 2020, rather than 2021 as current law states, making them full casinos. The bill also boosts the number of licenses casino operators can own from two to six.

The owner of the Gary casinos, Spectacle Entertainment, will have to pay a $20 million fee over five years to move the casinos inland, and also relinquish its second casino license. For the sacrifice of the second license, Spectacle will still receive tax benefits as if they still own two casinos until 2025. This could potentially give the company $40 million to $50 million in tax credit,s said. Rep. Ben Smaltz, R-Auburn, who was against the tax break the company gets.

“I think it’s bad policy to do that,” Smaltz said.

Smaltz also opposed mobile sports betting and had originally removed it earlier this session when the bill was in a committee he chaired. But the provision was restored when the House and Senate negotiated a final version.

This makes every community a gambling community, he warned.

“I’m not excited about having sports wagering anywhere in my community,” Smaltz said.

Other provisions that were added back in were the so-called “hold harmless” agreements to give payments to the communities where casinos in northern and southern Indiana who might lose revenue from the new Gary and Terre Haute casinos. Those include East Chicago, Michigan City, Hammond, Evansville, and French Lick. Huston later singled out that provision as contributing to his “no” vote.

“I don’t have a crystal ball. We don’t have a forecast (of how revenues will be affected),” Huston said. “…That’s my struggle. We’re making a presumption. I just don’t know what that presumption is.’

Lawmakers whose hometowns were helped by provisions in the gambling bill urged support. Rep. Terri Austin, D-Anderson, has a racino in her area that has brought “a thousand jobs in my community. Some of them have actually saved families from financial ruin.”

“Some folks just don’t like gaming, period,” she said. “But this bill has a lot of promise for our state.”

Democrat Sen. Eddie Melton said the casino expansion in his hometown of Gary will help rebuild the city, which they have been trying to do for 50 years.

“I don’t see this as a gaming bill,” Melton said. “I see this as an economic catalyst.”

But Rep. Randy Frye, R-Greensburg, raised a concern about the other communities in Southeast Indiana not receiving the same benefits. The casinos in Rising Sun and Lawrenceburg are not getting the “hold harmless” protections that the other casinos are. He said some parts of the bill were good but said some elements were thrown together at the last minute and needed to be thought out.

“We’re going to build this on the backs of the poorest people in our state,” Frye said.

The bill now heads to Holcomb for his signature. Recent questions were raised about Holcomb’s paid-for plane trip with the owner of Spectacle in 2018. Rep. Pat Bauer, D-South Bend, tried to prevent this from happening by amending the gaming bill in the House to require meetings between the governor and casino bosses to be public, but the provision was removed in the final version.

“Why wouldn’t the governor want to have some sort of open sunshine if he’s under some suspicion?” Bauer said.

So far, Holcomb has not committed to signing the bill though he has not been publicly critical of it either.

FOOTNOTE: Emily Ketterer is a reporter for TheStatehouseFile.com, a news website powered by Franklin College journalism students.