Ameristar Casino in East Chicago will be moving its high limit slot machines and table games out of the casino and onto land as part of a $5.8 million investment.
The casino's vice president and general manager, Matthew Schuffert, said 14 table games and 95 slot machines would be moved to about 15,000 square feet of space in its pavilion area now occupied by Burger Brothers.
He said a cashier, bar, restroom and other amenities would be added in the area as well, with the burger restaurant moving to another area of the pavilion.
Schuffert said the newly vacated space on the casino floor would be filled with additional slot machines.
He said Ameristar would add about 10 positions to its labor force as a result of the investment.
"I'm really excited about this. It's the first opportunity for folks to experience land-based gaming in Northwest Indiana," Schuffert said.
Ameristar received Indiana Gaming Commission approval to make the changes after Schuffert made a presentation to the governing board last week. Ameristar is the first of Northwest Indiana's five casinos to take advantage of a 2015 Indiana law allowing the state's casinos to move a part of their gaming operation to land, provided it's in the same footprint as their casino boats.
Tropicana in southern Indiana also took advantage of the law, opening an entirely land-based operation.
Schuffert said work will begin on the new space in January and should be completed by mid-April.
Ed Feigenbaum, editor of Indiana Gaming Insight, said the new land-based gaming space will provide a more private space for the casino's VIPs and make more room on the casino floor for other gaming opportunities.
"It's property specific as to whether it's worth it," Feigenbaum said, explaining why other casinos might not have taken advantage of the 2015 law as yet.
He said Horseshoe Hammond, for instance, has a huge facility but not much land available in its footprint. He said Tropicana had already started building its entertainment complex when the bill was passed, and the city of Evansville was interested in the casino moving off the water so that space could be used for other tourism reasons.
Feigenbaum said the pavilion areas were built when casinos first came to Indiana and the casino boats needed to go out on the water. He said the crowds would wait in the pavilion area, which are comprised of long corridors, for the next cruise. The casinos wanted to make that waiting period attractive so they added restaurants and gift shops.
"You don't have those crowds waiting now. Today, people go straight through to the casinos," Feigenbaum said.
Schuffert said the security will still be in place for the high limit gaming room.
"We'll move the turnstile to just before this space," he said.
Karen Caffarini is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.
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