The Indiana Gaming Commission’s months-long investigation into Spectacle Entertainment is nearly complete, said the agency’s Executive Director Sara Gonso Tait. “Our regulatory investigation involves matters in addition to the criminal matters previously disclosed” and involves “more than 10 subjects,” Tait said. Spectacle owns the Majestic Star casinos in Gary. It’s replacing one of those with a $300 million land-based casino, and also building a $125 million casino in Terre Haute.
Spectacle is owned by former lawmaker and casino executive John Keeler. State officials suspended Keeler’s license in September after an indictment charged him with directing casino funds to then-state Senator Brent Waltz’ failed 2015 U.S. House campaign. At the time, Keeler and fellow Spectacle owner Rod Ratcliff had been executives at Centaur Gaming, which was seeking legislative approval for live table games at the company’s horseracing tracks in Shelbyville and Anderson. Keeler and other Centaur and Ratcliff sold the company to Caesars Entertainment for $1.7 billion and Keeler and Ratcliff formed Spectacle Entertainment.
Keeler and Gibson aggressively lobbied state officials for approval to build the new Gary and Terre Haute casinos. The company’s executives arranged private flights for Governor Eric Holcomb, arranged legal work for then-Indiana House Speaker Brian Bosma and hired another lawmaker’s company for title work.
This spring, Indiana casino officials forced Keeler and Ratcliff to give up their ownership stake in the Terre Haute casino but allowed Spectacle Vice Chairman Greg Gibson, a Terre Haute businessman, to move forward with the project. Ratcliff, who is not named in the federal indictment, does not face any criminal charges; he resigned in June as Spectacle’s chairman and chief executive officer but has been allowed to keep his ownership stake.
Tait did not identify the individuals under investigation, but said “their suitability and ability to continue to hold gaming licenses is in serious doubt.” She noted, “We have conducted 29 separate interviews of both licensees and former licensees, spanning nearly 33 hours of actual interview time.” She said three people declined to be interviewed, including “individuals that have previously been or currently are licensed by the IGC.”
Tait noted Keeler’s indictment refers to another unnamed Centaur executive who met with a Virginia political consultant at the Indianapolis International Airport to arrange alleged straw donations to Waltz’s campaign. That could have been Ratcliff, who suddenly resigned from Spectacle in June; Kyle Waggoner, vice president of hospitality at Indiana Grand in Shelbyville; and former Centaur employee and lobbyist Adam Kallick, who now works at Caesars. They are the three who rejected being interviewed by the commission.
Gaming Commission Deputy Director Jennifer Reske said the agency did not want to derail the Gary and Terre Haute casino projects. “Ensuring these projects are successful is a top priority. It’s a goal to make sure that they continue and there are no delays, but at the same time we have to ensure that these facilities are conducted in compliance with statute.”
Gaming Commissioner Susan Williams said regulators needed to be decisive about the situation, which she called “unprecedented for this commission.” Williams added, “We’ve got one project marching along up in Gary and one to be started in Terre Haute. We need to set a deadline for a plan in order to convince us that we don’t need to suspend this license.” The board said Spectacle must provide a plan regarding how it will address the commission’s concerns by December 21.
Jahnae Erpenbach, Spectacle’s new chief executive officer and board chair commented, “From the beginning, we have taken this matter very seriously, as we share the commission’s objective of protecting the integrity of gaming in the state. Spectacle will continue to cooperate fully with the commission and will be presenting its plan of action to the commission in the near future.”
