City, county, and casino leaders promised it would benefit the area. The Terre Haute casino earned more than $10 million from gaming in February, about twice as much as southern Indiana’s French Lick Resort.
Elected officials, such as former Terre Haute Mayor Duke Bennett, showed enthusiasm at the casino’s June 2022 groundbreaking.
“Here's a company that's coming in and not ask for any incentives and investing their own money and then having to give some of it back, and then giving it some of it back on their own, that we're gonna be able to do some really great things for the citizens of our community,” he said.
For leaders in local government, the casino was expected to bring good-paying jobs to Vigo County, finance government projects, and stimulate local business.
At least the first two seem to be panning out.
According to the casino, the majority of its 550 employees come from Terre Haute. About two thirds of them have been here since day one.
Austin Muchemore is the general manager at the Terre Haute Casino Resort.
“The best part of my job at this point is seeing some of these people who are from this area, who have never worked in a casino before, started a little less than a year ago, who have now moved up already and have been promoted to leadership positions,” he said.
Starting positions range from $15 to $17 an hour, while tipped positions go above $20. The average hourly wage in Terre Haute, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, is around $24 an hour.
Terre Haute and Vigo County are ready to put those tax dollars to work, too.
Bennett said at the end of his term that if the casino met its revenue goals, approximately $10 million would go from the casino directly to local government in 2025.
Terre Haute Mayor Brandon Sakbun said the city alone gets 25 percent of gaming revenue per month and 40 percent of supplemental taxes.
“Those numbers are a little bit higher than anticipated, so we'll definitely meet our budget requirements, fill the cash surplus and then review those plans for 2026,” Sakbun said.
Terre Haute Mayor Brandon Sakbun (Joe Hren, WFIU/WTIU News)
A foundation set up by the casino to sponsor local projects has raised over $2.5 million.
“It did take quite some time to get board members on board and involved, and then also for them to hire their own legal counsel as a part of the foundation and get projects moving," Vigo County Commissioner Chris Switzer said. "So there hasn't... really been any money put forward or put out into the community yet, but that will be coming in the coming months.”
The extent to which crime and problem gambling has affected Terre Haute is unclear. But the city’s casino fund will cover public projects this year including part of a renovation for the local YMCA.
It’s also paying for a new aquatic center at the Deming Park Pool as well as paving and sidewalk work around town. Eight-hundred thousand is going to the Vigo County School Corporation for supplies, transportation, and security services.
“Most normal Vigo County and Terre Haute people are still excited about it, happy to see the tourism, the food and beverage revenue, innkeeper tax revenue and stuff like that, and we’ve got to find good ways to use that money,” Switzer said.
Vigo County Commissioner Chris Switzer said the city casino fund goes toward public projects like sidewalk paving and upgrading public parks. (Devan Ridgway, WFIU/WTIU News)
The challenge remains getting those tourists into the city.
At Federal Coffee in downtown Terre Haute, numerous customers say they’re staying at the nearby convention center. But barista Sydney Harmon said she’s barely met any staying at the casino 15 minutes away.
“We're a little bit of a drive from the casino, so that's not really something that we're seeing our customers come into town for," she said.
With five restaurants and six bars, there’s a lot of in-house options for hotel guests.
Neither Sakbun nor Muchemore said they have a reliable way to track how many casino patrons visit other spots in Terre Haute, but they’ve been meeting to come up with ideas.
“How can we sell Hulman Links golf course, J. Ford Steak House, or the Verve Bar and Lounge to folks who are at the casino? That's where we really need to start synchronizing our marketing and tourist efforts,” Sakbun said.
“There's been a lot of great brainstorming," Muchemore said. "We'll see where it comes but at this point, it's just great that these people are in the same room, having conversations that are all aimed towards, again, growing tourism and convention in this area.”
As someone who lives and works in Terre Haute, Harmon said the way to attract casino visitors downtown may be simpler.
“Maybe a little bit more downtown. We have a couple bars, but that's more nightlife," she said, "And obviously, as a coffee shop, we're not open at nighttime, so maybe some more restaurants, more stuff to do downtown during the day instead of drinking.”
