Casino news source: Fort Wayne.com - http://www.fortwayne.com/
Extreme casino makeovers
Indiana’s riverboats pour billions of dollars into renovations to compete.
By The Associated Press
Indiana’s riverboat casinos are investing big bucks on makeovers and upgrades in an effort to expand their market and prepare for possible competition from other states.
Four of the five casinos along the Ohio River and two of the five on Lake Michigan have made investments totaling $1.2 billion. Two casinos in Gary are also considering expansions.
That total does not include the $385 million spent on the state’s newest casino in the southern Indiana town of French Lick.
“It’s always better to have the newer, fancier product in town,” said Robert A. LaFleur, a casino industry analyst for Pennsylvania-based Susquehanna International Group, told The Courier-Journal of Louisville, Ky.
Indiana casinos could compete with facilities in other states in the future.
Officials in Ohio and Kentucky have discussed adding slot machines at their parimutuel tracks, a move supporters say would boost the horse industry and give the state wagering tax dollars now going to Indiana. Kentucky residents spend $600 million each year at Indiana casinos, according to the Kentucky Equine Education Project, a coalition of horse racing interests.
But Ohio residents in November defeated a referendum that would have allowed slots, and Kentucky continues to wrestle with the issue.
For now, it seems Indiana’s casinos are competing with themselves.
Caesars Indiana near Louisville is undergoing a $50 million makeover that includes high-limit table games and renovations.
“When other competitors on the Ohio River invest in new capital, it really becomes more urgent for us to do the same so we have a competitive facility,” Caesars General Manager Ed Garruto said.
Some Indiana casino officials say they want to be prepared if Kentucky or Ohio allow slot machines.
Belterra casino, near the Ohio River town of Vevay, draws most of its customers from Louisville, Cincinnati and Lexington, Ky. Belterra has planned a hotel expansion and a Las Vegas-style spa to attract high-end customers, investments that could help it survive future competition, said General Manager Kevin Kauffman.
“You’re always trying to reinvent yourself, to make your property stand out from the crowd,” he said.
Blue Chip casino in Michigan City moved last year into a new $170 million facility, while work is under way for a $485 million project at the Horseshoe Casino in Hammond. That new casino, expected to debut in summer 2008, will house twice the number of slot machines and table games as the existing Horseshoe and have a 3,000-seat entertainment center.
Casino projects across the state create jobs and likely will mean higher tax revenues for Indiana, said Mike Smith, executive director of the Casino Association of Indiana.
However, some gamblers are focused on a different kind of bottom line — their own.
Sonnie Burden of Central City, Ky., has visited most of southern Indiana’s casinos and said casinos should spend less on fancy improvements and more on improving the odds of winning.
“To me, it would be better if they opened up the odds a little bit on the machines than spending millions on improvements,” he said. |
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