Casino news source: Courier Journal - http://www.courier-journal.com
Casino barges proposed in talks
Lawmakers' plan would require fee
By Lesley Stedman Weidenbener
lstedman@courier-journal.com
The Courier-Journal
INDIANAPOLIS -- Lawmakers talked yesterday about allowing the state's casinos to get rid of their boats and essentially build on platforms over water -- if they're willing to pay a substantial fee.
The proposal also would increase taxes on the most profitable casinos, including Caesars in Harrison County, even if they didn't choose to trade their boats for so-called barges.
The provisions were part of language suggested by Rep. Trent Van Haaften, D-Mount Vernon, the author of House Bill 1835, which authorizes slot machines at Indiana's horse tracks.
Van Haaften and a handful of other legislators are seeking a compromise between the HB 1835 versions passed by the House and Senate. Both authorized racetrack slots but disagreed about how many, how much to tax them and what fee to charge tracks for the right to install them.
The Senate version also removed the requirement that casinos have propulsion systems. Combined with rule changes being considered by the Indiana Gaming Commission, that would allow barge casinos that might be permanently docked and couldn't move on their own.
Barges instead of boats would let gambling companies more cheaply and easily build larger casinos with substantially more slot machines and table games.
Rep. Matt Whetstone, R-Brownsburg, a negotiator on the bill, said his caucus can't support that kind of gambling expansion unless the casinos pay a fee for the right to move to barges. Lawmakers are looking to use gambling fees this year to pay for property-tax relief.
The proposal from Van Haaften would set a fee of $25 million, plus $500 per square foot of additional space created by the barge casino. That would likely mean a $50 million fee, for example, if the Argosy Casino under construction in Lawrenceburg switched to a barge, Whetstone said.
Van Haaften's plan also would increase the highest tax rate that casinos pay on wagering revenues. Currently, they're taxed on a sliding scale that starts at 15 percent and gets as high as 35 percent for revenue in excess of $150 million.
The plan under discussion yesterday would impose a 40 percent tax on income higher than $200 million, whether or not the casino opted for barges.
That would immediately increase taxes for five casinos that already have annual revenue that tops $200 million. It would cost Caesars, with revenue of $324.8 million last year, more than $6 million in added taxes.
In all, Whetstone said the higher tax rate would generate at least $40 million more for the state even if casino revenue did not increase and no casinos expanded.
Mike Smith, executive director of the Casino Association of Indiana, said yesterday that the proposal -- particularly the barge fee and higher tax rate -- would cause gambling companies to rethink expanding in Indiana.
Although the association supports the elimination of casino-propulsion systems, he said the group opposes the bill because of the financial burden it would create.
House Speaker Pat Bauer, D-South Bend, said he expects the barge language to remain in the bill. The rest, he said, is still being discussed.
"We're probably mitigating some of that," he said, particularly the tax rate. "There will be at least a fee, but the rest is under discussion."
Reporter Lesley Stedman Weidenbener can be reached at (317) 444-2780. |
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