As the end of the legislative session is less than a week away, Indiana authorities took imminent actions towards solving the most complex issues of the state. During yesterday’s meeting, they considered making certain cuts in the state budget. The question about helping state casinos bring their former glory and revenue back was also subject to debates.
Members of the Senate and House, responsible for the budget, announced that they are currently seeking ways for remedying the situation with the decrease in tax collections. For the time being, the shortage they have to deal with is estimated at $213 million.
Luke Kenley, R-Noblesville, the Chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, said that the tax cuts were likely to bring about disagreements but his goal was to protect the school funding.
The other issue that was on the agenda at yesterday’s meeting was the pros and cons of the bill proposing state riverboat casinos to be transferred to land-based properties.
The intensified competition from the neighboring states caused significant decrease in revenue, which, therefore, impacted the local economy in a negative manner. That is why Indiana lawmakers discussed the idea for providing the struggling casinos with tax relief.
Representatives of Tropicana Evansville, one of the casinos that is to relocate to a land-based property, attended yesterday’s meeting in order to support the proposal. They said moving riverboat casinos to land will enable them to fight the competition coming from the neighboring states.
According to the Senate version of the casino-related bill, the existing house track casinos will be prohibited from adding live dealers to the table games until 2021.
However, executives of Indiana Grand and Hoosier Park strongly disagreed with the proposal. They said the live dealers should be approved as soon as possible so an economy diversification is achieved and more job positions are opened.
Although the expansion of the gambling sector in Indiana is considered beneficial to the economy, the existing casino operators expressed their concerns that the availability of more gambling facilities in the horse track casinos would hurt their business and urged Indiana lawmakers to carefully review all disadvantages the permission of two fully developed casinos in the region would bring.
It seems like lawmakers are pressed for time as they have less than a week to iron out all details related to the tax relief, the idea for offering beverages outside the casino floor, and the proposal for moving the riverboat casinos to land. The next step is presenting the proposal to Governor Mike Pence and to the General Assembly, which is to adjourn next Wednesday.
