All in? New Haven residents speak out on proposal for new casino

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Apprehension was apparent in New Haven on Monday evening as residents packed into a public meeting to learn about a potentially seismic shift in the character of their community. 

Around 300 people were present to hear a pitch from Full House Resorts, which wants to transfer its gaming license from Rising Sun in far southeast Indiana and move Rising Star Casino up to New Haven. Casino officials estimate the project would bring a $500 million casino and hotel to the town of less than 16,000 people that’s just east of downtown Fort Wayne.

The majority of those who attended the meeting were dubious about the proposal—a few dozen came equipped with signs reading “No casino” and “Save our family values.” Many were concerned over a rise in gambling addiction and crime. Others were more concerned about traffic.

“I want to protect my children from any kind of casino. It causes corruption and increased crime. There’s just a lot of things we don’t want brought into New Haven and a casino is one of them,” said resident Judy Kohrman before the meeting.

But a good number of attendees also spoke in favor of the economic benefits outlined by Full House executives, which include increased tax revenue for New Haven along with close to 1,500 projected jobs.

Despite the strong reaction from residents in New Haven, whether Full House makes the move will be up to state legislators.

The pitch

Full House is based in Las Vegas and operates a handful of casinos around the country, including the Rising Star Casino located in Rising Sun. The company says its Rising Sun location is consistently its lowest performing property due to increased competition from newer casinos in Cincinnati where gaming has recently been legalized. 

News broke in August that Full House was looking at transferring its license to New Haven, which is next door to Fort Wayne and 90 minutes away from competing casinos. 

In a presentation to New Haven residents, Full House Chief Development Officer Alex Stolyar said it has optioned land on the northeastern edge of the town near the intersection of Interstate 469 and State Road 24. There, the gaming company plans a two-phase buildout with each phase costing around $250 million. The first phase will focus on the main casino, lounge space and restaurants, while the second phase will add a 200-room hotel and additional event space.

According to Full House’s estimates, the casino will earn almost $290 million in revenue by the fifth year of operation, which would equate to about $61 million in gaming taxes, $20 million of which would go to New Haven. That doesn’t include close to $11 million a year in property taxes to various public entities.

There were no city officials from New Haven at the meeting, but Stolyar said they’ve communicated to him that if the casino is built, 20% of the increased tax revenue would go to property tax rebates and another 20% would go toward public safety funding. New Haven development personnel have previously told Inside INdiana Business they hope the casino becomes an anchor for an entertainment district along I-469 in the coming years.

As he fielded questions from residents, Stolyar emphasized that Full House would be paying for the entirety of the project and wouldn’t seek tax abatements from New Haven or Allen County. 

“What financial incentives are we requesting from the city or the county? The answer is none. We’re not getting any tax abatements, no TIF money, nothing. We are going to be a full taxpayer,” said Stolyar. “We get no direct benefit from the city, the county or the state.”

Stolyar also said Full House would contract with local construction companies on the project and would hire locally for the vast majority of the almost 1,500 jobs the casino will have once it’s completed. 

Before any construction or tax benefits begin, the state legislature would have to approve Full House’s request to move its gaming license. That alone could take years as lawmakers haven’t touched gambling legislation since 2019 when moving a gaming license resulted in a former lawmaker pleading guilty to corruption and being sentenced to prison.

Any move from Rising Sun to New Haven would also come with a hefty “hold-harmless” payment from Full House to the community in Ohio County it would leave behind. At Monday’s meeting, Stolyar said Full House is working on a deal that would see the company pay Rising Sun the sum of its gaming tax revenues for a period of 20 years.

Concerns 

Many residents weren’t swayed by the financial benefits Full House touted. As he stood in front of the assembled meeting, Stolyar fielded questions from residents concerned about increased crime, increased gambling addiction and decreased property values. 

Vanessa Luebke attended the meeting with her two children and feels New Haven already lacks the resources to care for those suffering with addiction. She worries a casino would only increase the public burden for those who need help.

“New Haven isn’t a destination town at all. Why are we trying to bring in some big destination casino?” Luebke said. “New Haven has a lot of addiction. We have more bars, more liquor stores than anywhere I’ve lived. We don’t need more addiction. We don’t have one clinic. We don’t have one rehab center. We don’t have one homeless facility that people can walk into and get help.”

Linda Hathaway, another New Haven resident, is opposed to gambling as a practice but added she’s also concerned about traffic near where Full House would like to build.

“There are huge accidents and a lot of fatal accidents already in that area,” Hathaway said. “And more traffic is just going to make that worse.”

But sentiment at the meeting was mixed. A handful of people came with signs showing poker chips reading, “Play Locally. Dine Locally. Spend Locally.”

Theresa McDaniel spoke at the meeting and said she’s looking forward to the casino “lowering property taxes, bringing in more clientele, more restaurants.” 

Others painted a bleaker picture of New Haven and emphasized the town needs the casino saying, “New Haven needs to grow or die.”