Auction of Slot Machine Licenses a Possibility

Senator Luke Kenley wants to see the slot machine licenses currently held by Indiana’s two pari-mutuel racetracks go up for auction. Kenley is the chairman of the Senate Tax and Fiscal Policy Committee, and he thinks that if they are going to allow slot machines at the tracks, then they should have to pay top dollar for those licenses.

He says that they have a responsibility to the people of Indiana to try and get as much money for the slot machine licenses as they can. The bill to give them slot machines came out of the House allowing the tracks to have 2,500 slot machines each, and for that they were going to pay $100 million for the license. When the bill came to Kenley, his committee cut the number of slot machines to 1,500 and upped the license fee to $400.

Kenley says that if the tracks cannot come up with the $400 million to pay for the slot machine license, then they should be able to auction off the licenses to someone who can pay that or more. The owners of Hoosier Park have already said that they cannot afford more than $125 million, and Kenley says that just is not enough.

The slot machine bill passed the House 27-21 on March 29th, and then went back to the House. The House then sent it to committee, where Kenley got a hold of it. Slot machine legislation has dominated the current session of the General Assembly, as lawmakers would like to see slot machines supplement the budget so that they do not have to raise taxes.

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