Lawmakers confronting how best to help Indiana’s casinos meet growing out-of-state competition are facing one key question: Should live dealers be added at racinos and should riverboat casinos be allowed to expand inland?
That, in fact, has been the central question throughout this legislative session. The Senate, in its version of SB 528, answered yes. The House, in its version, said no.
And today, after the first meeting of House and Senate lawmakers negotiating a final version of the bill, it seemed neither side has changed its mind.
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He said the tax breaks left in the House version helps an industry that employs a lot of Hoosiers.
“We like the position that we have the bill in,” Davis said. “We think it makes a lot of sense. It helps the industry” without expanding gaming.
Boots said he does not want to see the bill die if the House and Senate cannot agree on live dealers and inland casinos.
That could mean leaving the bill pretty much where it was when it left the House, letting casinos not pay admissions taxes on the coupons they hand out to promote business
. Under the House version, the casinos would get up to $3 million in the tax break the first year, growing to $5 million the second.http://www.indystar.com/article/20130422/NEWS05/304220056/Indiana-Senate-House-struggle-how-help-casinos
