Former Spectacle Entertainment Chief Executive Officer Rod Ratcliff recently filed a lawsuit against the Indiana Gaming Commission. He claims the IGC did not allow a fair hearing on allegations that he continued to exert control over the company in violation of state orders, and wrongly is trying to force him to give up his stake in a Lake Michigan casino and a new $300 million Hard Rock casino in Gary.
Ratcliff’s lawsuit maintains state regulators interfered with his efforts to sell his 22 percent share of Spectacle and were trying to force him to take a “fire-sale price” from Hard Rock.
The commission’s action in December followed the federal indictment of Ratcliff’s business partner, former Spectacle Vice President John Keeler, who was indicted in September for allegedly illegally funneling casino company money to a former state lawmaker’s unsuccessful congressional campaign.
A spokesman for Ratcliff said he would “not surrender his constitutional rights in the process. By operating outside of its legal scope and unfairly judging Mr. Ratcliff as guilty by association, the Indiana Gaming Commission has created a problem where none existed and delayed what will be a significant contributor to the Lake County economy.”
Ratcliff hasn’t been charged in the federal case and denies any wrongdoing. He resigned as Spectacle’s chief executive officer last summer, he and Keeler gave up their ownership in the company’s planned $125 million casino in Terre Haute to business partner Greg Gibson.
Hard Rock Chief Operating Officer Jon Lucas stated the company was working with the state commission and remains committed to completing the new Gary casino project.
