The Indiana House of Representatives recently granted final approval to the gaming compact signed by Governor Eric Holcomb and the Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Indians.
The agreement will allow the tribe’s Four Winds South Bend Casino to offer live table games, slot machines and sports betting. That could come later this year once the compact is approved by the U.S. Interior Secretary and published in the Federal Register.
Since the casino opened in 2018, it only could offer electronic games under federal law, lacking an agreement with the state.
Under the 20-year compact, state officials may not allow any new casino competition across most of northern and northwestern Indiana, including any expansion of casinos in Hammond, East Chicago, Gary and Michigan City. In return, the tribe will pay 8 percent of slots winnings to the state and continue its 2 percent payments to the city of South Bend. In comparison, the state’s 13 commercial casinos pay a tax of 25 percent on total winnings. The 6,000-member tribe has a similar agreement with Michigan for its casinos in New Buffalo, Hartford and Dowagiac.
The compact sets a limit of 3,403 gaming positions at Four Winds, the same maximum number of positions allowed at the Horseshoe Casino in Hammond. It also stipulates that the tribe will withhold jackpot winnings from individuals delinquent in their child support payments, not make campaign donations to candidates for state or local office and refrain from marketing to participants on the state self-exclusion list.
