For the second consecutive year, Rising Star Casino in Rising Sun, Indiana will be known as the “Christmas Casino” throughout November and December. Last year, the holiday promotion resulted in double-digit increases in revenue.
It’s just one of the ways officials at Las Vegas-based owners Full House Resorts are trying to reverse the fortunes of the casino, which was the only gambling operation in the Cincinnati market when it opened 20 years ago. Today, it competes with six larger casinos, with slightly more than a 5 percent share of the region’s $800 million gambling market. In 2015, Rising Star generated $50.8 million in gambling revenue 765,000 visitors; $7.5 million went to state taxes, providing $700,000 for local governments.
Full House Chief Executive Officer Daniel Lee said, “We keep trying different things with this property, kind of like it’s a patient in the hospital. You keep giving it heart shock and adrenalin and everything else. It’s shown a lot of improvement in the last few quarters.”
Lee said $6 million in upgrades also are planned at Rising Star, including a recently approved ferry service that could start in late 2017. Boone County officials approved the service to operate between Rabbit Hash and Rising Sun on the Ohio River. The U.S. Coast Guard and Army Corps of Engineers still have to approve the plan that would make Rising Star Casino accessible to 380,000 residents of Northern Kentucky via a three-minute boat ride, compared to a 40-mile round trip
Another possibility proposed by Full House last year was to move half of Rising Star’s gambling capacity to a property near the Indianapolis International Airport. The plan included a $650 million, 700,000 square foot complex, anchored by a small casino, with a boutique hotel, movie theater, conference center, condominiums and office space. The Airport Authority rejected Full House’s plan but Lee said the company will continue to explore the concept. He said if state lawmakers approve such a plan in the next few years, Rising Star would remain open; it uses less than 1,000 of the 1,500 slot machines and gaming tables it’s allowed. The unused games could go to another location, Lee said. “Relocating will happen eventually. It only makes sense for the state fiscally,” he noted.
In addition, Lee said Full House plans to convert some of Rising Sun’s extensive parking lots into a 50-unit RV park. Cincinnati competitors can’t copy the idea since they don’t have enough available land. Also, Rising Star plans to add a new restaurant and VIP gambling space and redesign its main entrance. Lee added Full House was able to get the local government to lower its tax bill, saving about $500,000 annually, to help cover the costs of capital improvements.
Although state legislators have resisted expanded gambling, last year they allowed casinos to move their operations from riverboats to land-based buildings. Lee said as a result, casino locations could shift to better serve s Indianapolis or Fort Wayne and other larger Indiana cities. “Indiana has a dilemma. It put all of these casinos around the state boarders and now Illinois and Ohio have their own. So Indiana’s are now in the wrong place,” Lee noted.
