Brought to you by WBIW News and Network Indiana
Last updated on Tuesday, April 23, 2013
(STATEHOUSE) - Indiana casinos seeking help from the state in fending off competition from neighboring states don’t necessarily agree what form that should take.
The mayors of Anderson and Shelbyville traveled to the statehouse to urge legislators to grant the horse-racing tracks in their communities the right to offer live casino table games instead of electronic versions. That effort faces potentially fatal opposition from House Speaker Brian Bosma (R-Indianapolis) and Governor Pence.
Senator Phil Boots (R-Crawfordsville), who chairs the conference committee on the bill, isn't giving up. He says he's yet to be persuaded that the switch would be an expansion of gambling, as Bosma and Pence contend, since the games in question are already offered.
While the racinos want table games, several riverboat casinos want the right to move their facilities inland. Like the table-game provision, that proposal passed the Senate but was stripped from the bill in the House.
There's disagreement among casinos on another Senate provision, to replace the current admissions tax with a surtax on revenue. That proposal would be a break for some casinos but a tax hike for others.
Casinos are united in asking legislators to end the taxation of promotional coupons.
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