Casino operator Full House Resorts filed suit against the Indiana Gaming Commission in reaction to the commission’s decision to grant the casino license for Vigo County to Churchill Downs, Inc. The company is asking the Marion County Superior Court to nullify the license award because the commission adjourned to an executive session in the middle of a meeting, to discuss the proposals of Full House and CDI.
The lawsuit cites Indiana’s Open Door Law, which holds that “a governing body may not conduct an executive session during a meeting.”
“After the mid-hearing executive session, which contravenes the Open Door Law, the commission returned to the hearing,” the complaint reads. “Without any public debate, comment, discussion or explanation, the commission voted to deny Full House’s application and grant Churchill’s application.”
The complaint also claims that the proposal of Full House was better for the state. “Full House spent great time and expense to secure a highly visible site that approximately 11 million cars pass annually,” the complaint says. “Full House’s destination complex was designed to essentially be a billboard to the millions of cars that drive by its site.”
The lawsuit argues that Churchill Downs’ site on U.S. 41 is far less visible, off the freeway and near a county jail and sewage treatment site with a rooftop bar that overlooks the jail and treatment plant.
“The nature of a sewage treatment plant in such close proximity to a public entertainment venue is counter-intuitive to any prudent, rational individual; the same can be said for locating an entertainment venue near a county jail,” the complaint said.
The lawsuit also claims CDI violated the law by proposing an alternate location. “Churchill’s presentation to the commission during the hearing contained an appendix, which was not publicly presented, and which included an illegal second location for the casino that Churchill did not have under contract, near the Terre Haute airport… Churchill’s proposal of multiple and amorphous sites should have disqualified its proposal from consideration because Indiana law required one location to be provided in the application.”
The complaint asks the court to find that the commission violated the Open Door Law, void the decision to deny Full House’s application and grant Churchill Downs’ application and prohibit the awarding of the license to Churchill Downs.
The Full House proposal calls for a 100,000-square foot casino called American Place, with 1,000 slots, 50 gaming tables and a 100-room hotel. Churchill Downs’ proposal is for a $190 million 10-story, 125-room hotel atop a casino named the Queen of Terre Haute near Haute City Center.
