From the Indianapolis Business Journal:
The Indiana House Ways and Means Committee postponed amendments and a vote on a gambling measures Wednesday after supporters of the state’s horse-track casinos renewed their fight to get live dealers at their table games.
Lawmakers are working with a bill, authored by Sen. Phil Boots, R-Crawfordsville, that is an attempt to help out the casino industry under attack from new gambling operations in Ohio.
As passed by the Senate, the bill was laden with ways to help struggling Indiana casinos, whose revenues are annually the third or fourth largest source of income to the state. Among them were provisions allowing live gaming tables at race track casinos in Anderson and Shelbyville, and permitting riverboats to move gaming on shore.
But last week, the House Public Policy Committee stripped those provisions from the bill, leaving behind only tax breaks for casino marketing and upgrades. But that didn’t stop casinos from lobbying the Ways and Means Committee to restore the bill to the Senate-passed version.
Steve Jimenez, general manager for Rising Star Casino and Resort in Rising Sun, said that since the new Cincinnati casino opened up this month, the riverboat has already suffered almost a 20-percent hit. He said that action by the legislature is necessary.
“From our standpoint, doing nothing will only add to the downturn,” Jimenez said.
Despite losing some of the provisions, Boots said that SB 528 still has plenty of incentives to help out the struggling casinos.
Boots told the committee that the bill includes two key tax and budget components:
— A provision that exempts up to $2 million in annual so-called “free play” for each casino. That affects the vouchers casinos send to customers to entice them to gamble. Currently, casinos are taxed on the use of those vouchers. The measure would let casinos send up to $2 million of those vouchers out untaxed.
— A provision that provides $40 million in annual tax credits for casino upgrades and improvements.
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http://www.ibj.com/lawmakers-still-considering-live-table-games-at-racinos/PARAMS/article/40450
