Ground recently was broken on a new .5 million RV park at Rising Star Casino in Rising Sun, Indiana. The new facility will connect guests to the casino, resort amenities, golf course and downtown Rising Sun, said Dan Lee, chief executive officer at Full House Resorts Inc., owners of the Rising Star Casino. Lee said “The RV travel market is large and growing, especially in our geographic region. Approximately one in 10 households now own a recreational vehicle and the majority of these RVs were manufactured in Indiana. We believe the RV park is a perfect complement to our existing casino, dining, sports and entertainment facilities.”
Lee said the project will demonstrate “the ways we’re different,” since no other Indiana casino offers an RV park, and that will allow Rising Star to attract customers from “a little different market.”
Lee said Full House’s recent failure in to gain legislative approval to shift unused casino games to Terre Haute further heightened Rising Star’s geographic disadvantage. He pointed out Indiana’s original focus 20 years ago was on casinos near Chicago and Cincinnati. Since then gaming has grown in both Illinois and Ohio. “So, to some extent, Indiana has its casinos in the wrong places,” Lee said.
Lee stated he believes legislators are inclined to protect the existing gaming properties in their district, so they were unwilling to approve Full House’s attempts to reallocate numerous unused games to cities that currently do not have a casino.
Rising Star still is profitable, Lee said, and the company is committed to keeping it in Rising Sun.
