Indiana Senate Narrowly Passes Revised Bill To Relocate Rising Sun Casino to Fort Wayne Area
Senate passes bill 26-22 and nearly doubles the license fees for the selected operator to $150 million, but time is running out for a compromise with the House.
The Indiana Senate voted Tuesday in favor of a House bill that would open the door for relocating the Ohio County casino license to the Fort Wayne area. However, the chamber made several changes to the measure, which passed by a 26-22 vote with just three days left before the General Assembly session ends for the year.
The amendments to House Bill 1038 approved by the Senate include nearly doubling the relocation costs to $150 million, opening the competition for the relocated license to any owner of a casino in the United States, and doing away with a local voter referendum for approval.
There is no pre-selection,” said state Sen. Justin Busch, R-Fort Wayne. “There is no preferred operator. The Gaming Commission will conduct a transparent, regulated review and award the license.”
The substantial changes to the bill and the short time remaining in the session raise questions about whether lawmakers in both chambers can reach consensus before the session’s expected adjournment on Friday.
Tuesday was the final day for Indiana senators to consider House bills. Three weeks ago, the House passed its version of HB 1038 on its deadline day.
COMPARE BILLS: HB1038 House Senate
Under the Senate’s version of the bill, only Allen, DeKalb, and Steuben counties would be eligible for the relocated casino license. The House’s version included Wayne County in East Central Indiana.
Allen County is home to Fort Wayne, the Hoosier State’s second-largest city by population. The northeast corner of the state is the only part of Indiana that does not host a commercial or tribal casino.
Two Fort Wayne Senators Decry Referendum Removal
Most of the 20-minute discussion about the bill Tuesday on the Senate floor came from those who opposed the changes made to the measure, with two Fort Wayne-area senators upset over the removal of the local voter referendum requirement.
State Sen. Liz Brown, R-Fort Wayne, brought up the study conducted last year by Spectrum Gaming Group that identified Indianapolis as the ideal location for a casino. That report suggested a casino in the state’s capital and largest city would generate more than $170 million in tax revenue for the state, nearly three times the estimated amount Indiana would receive from a Fort Wayne casino.
Brown noted, though, an Indianapolis casino would have been a hard sell since there are three casinos within an hour’s drive of the metro area.
“But that’s why we’re here,” the former Fort Wayne City Council member said. “That’s why we have been elected. We can do the hard things… But we didn’t do it that way. We just did what was easiest for the state of Indiana.”
Both she and state Sen. Dr. Tyler Johnson, R-Leo, also criticized removing the referendum requirement. Johnson, the assistant majority caucus chair, reminded colleagues that he held a town hall last year that featured an overflow crowd with constituents in his district, which covers parts of Allen and DeKalb counties, vehemently opposed to a casino.
“That’s what it looked like in my community,” he said. “That’s why we took a referendum out of this bill.”
Rising Star Struggling in Saturated Market
The Rising Star Casino Resort in Rising Sun would close if HB1038 passes and the state relocates the license. Full House Resorts owns that casino, bookended by two other Indiana riverboat casinos in southeastern Indiana. That region also includes a casino in Cincinnati and four racinos or historical horse racing gaming parlors in the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky area.
As a result, Rising Star generates the smallest tax revenue of any Indiana casino. Through the first half of the 2025-26 fiscal year, Rising Star’s taxes totaled $1.1 million, less than .5% of the $283.5 million in taxes from the state’s 13 commercial gaming facilities.
SEE ALSO: Indiana Senate Passes Sweepstakes Casino Ban
While the Senate’s version of the bill expands the field of applicants from an Indiana casino license holder to any in the U.S., it still seems unlikely that a Fort Wayne area casino would attract much, if any interest, outside of Full House. The $150 million license fee is 7.5 times the amount lawmakers mandated in 2019 for the casino in Gary, now Hard Rock Northern Indiana, to relocate inland from off Lake Michigan. That $150 million fee, up from $50 million in the House version, also includes $50 million for Rising Sun.
House lawmakers called for the winning licensee to pay the community $30 million on top of the $50 million. Full House would also receive compensation if the IGC does not pick it to operate the new casino.
The winning bidder for the license would also agree to invest at least $500 million in the casino project. Indiana’s newest casino, Churchill Downs Inc.’s Terre Haute Casino Resort, opened in April 2024. It cost $290 million to build a casino with 1,000 slot machines, 36 table games, and a 122-room hotel.
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