TERRE HAUTE, Ind. (WTWO/WAWV) – The Indiana Gaming Commission has scheduled a virtual meeting is for May 15th to discuss the Vigo County casino owner’s licence.
The meeting, held by the Indiana Gaming Commission, has no written agenda as of now, but will be the first step taken in the process since an investigation was launched in late January.
Terre Haute mayor Duke Bennett tells us he’s excited for the upcoming meeting. He says this is something the community has been waiting on for a long time and he’s ready to get the casino project up and running.
“We really didn’t know how long it would take them to complete the process they were going through and I’m just happy they’re finally going to have the meeting now and make a decision on the Vigo County casino,” Bennett said.
We asked Bennett what steps are expected to come after the Friday meeting.
“If they approve the license and once the paper work is all taken care of, the entity that’s going to operate this casino will begin to roll out some information on their timeline. I would expect that construction will start within a few months, I don’t know exactly what the timeline is but the goal would be to get construction going this season. And I guess it will all depend on what their timing is to make that happen.
Duke Bennett
We also asked Mayor Bennett how he thinks the future of casinos will look, considering the current pandemic.
“In a pandemic situation you would have to shut them down as they did. And that’s a real burden on the communities on getting a that have a casino in not getting revenue getting in so not only for the casinos themselves but for the local government.”
“I think the key is to make sure that the revenues that come from the casino are used in a way that don’t hurt your local budget. .. I know some casino communities that money goes directly to police directly to fire, directly to running the city. I want to make sure in our case we don’t use those funds to run the city, I want to put that money into capital projects, those kind of things and do things to help non-for-profits out through the foundation so I think if this does happen in the future again and revenues do go down it will only affect the timing of the project and not actually paying people or running the city,” the mayor said.
A February meeting expected to grant a license to the casino was canceled after a political consultant pleaded guilty to federal charges of illegally funneling campaign contributions for an Indianapolis-based gaming company.
In January, the Indiana Gaming Commission said they were made aware of information in federal court filings in Virginia. It involved Centaur Gaming in 2015, whose executives formed Spectacle Entertainment in 2018. Spectacle Jack LLC, a subsidiary of Spectacle Entertainment, was the only operator to apply for a Terre Haute license.
Spectacle entertainment issued a statement saying that they are aware of the allegations being made.
The allegations are in connection to a paid consulting firm, once contracted by Centaur Gaming and campaign finance violations reported in Virginia.
The Associated press cited federal court documents that outlined the illegal funneling of more than $15,000 in campaign contributions to an Indiana Congressional candidate.
