Horseshoe Southern Indiana held Wednesday a groundbreaking ceremony to mark the official beginning of an $85-million project for the movement of the riverboat casino on dry land.
The riverboat casino hosted its official groundbreaking ceremony yesterday, but it stated that construction work at the site where the casino could be located has already begun. Owner Caesars Entertainment Corp. has said that between 50 and 100 people would be used at peak construction times and the plan would take 18 weeks to be finalized.
The business is constructing a 100,000-square-foot land on land close to where the riverboat casino sits at Elizabeth. It will include a casino floor in addition to food and beverage, retail, and entertainment facilities. The property is currently under development near Horseshoe Southern Indiana’s present hotel. Renovation of the hotel rooms has been carried out two years back.
According to the new construction project at the site, Harmon Brown, the programmer behind the renovation and expansion project, stated that work has begun, with workers already being done with demolition and prep of the construction site.
The present riverboat casino will stay open while the new land-based facility is under development.
Horseshoe Southern Indiana is taking advantage of a 2015 modification to the state’s gaming law that allowed riverboat casinos to move onto nearby land. The reforms were adopted after Indiana had witnessed the biggest gambling revenue declines and the loss of hundreds of casino jobs after the growth of gambling in Illinois, Ohio, and Michigan.
The amended law permitted the state’s riverboat casinos across the Ohio River and Lake Michigan to build brick-and-mortar casinos but only on land near their existing operations.
In prior comments about their on-land relocation plan, Horseshoe Southern Indiana’s Senior Vice President and General Manager, Brad Seigel, has stated that the would look to introduce a new gaming environment to their patrons and improved gambling and non-gaming experience. The casino’s management team also believes that the fact the gaming floor will probably be located nearer to parking and other facilities will probably draw more customers to it.
As mentioned above, the Indiana Gaming Commission gave the nod to the casino’s relocation request in April. But, previous issues could have stalled the program since Caesars contested a $50-million transfer fee for the acquisition of Centaur Gaming LLC and its two Indiana-located gaming facilities — Hoosier Park Racing and Casino and Grand Racing and Casino.
The Las Vegas-based gambling giant announced late last year the $1.7-billion money deal as part of its growth plans. The Indiana Gaming Commission insisted that a $50-million fee for the transfer of ownership should be paid for the deal to be able to move forward. But, Caesars argued that the fee wasn’t applicable to the transaction since Centaur Gaming wasn’t the first owner of the two properties.
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