New Terre Haute casino set to open its doors Friday

Indiana once again will have 13 commercial casinos operating Friday when the Terre Haute Casino Resort opens its doors at 10:30 a.m. after nearly three years of planning and construction.

The new casino, located near U.S. 41 on the Indiana-Illinois state line about 150 miles directly south of Northwest Indiana, features 1,000 slot machines, 36 live table games, a poker room and a state-of-the-art sports book.

Also opening at the west-central Indiana gaming property Friday are three restaurants: Four Cornered Steakhouse, Rockwood Bar & Grill, and The Soda Shoppe; along with Crossroads Center Bar and the Queen's Beans coffee shop.

The casino's 122-room, high-rise luxury hotel, event center, and the top-floor Altitude Bar and Lounge all are scheduled to open May 15 when construction work on the 400,000-square foot facility is expected to be finished.

"Terre Haute and the Wabash Valley have waited a long time for this vision to become a reality," said Mike Rich, the casino's vice president and general manager.

"The launch of Terre Haute Casino Resort extends beyond physical structure; it's about creating a vibrant and integral part of this community, and we couldn't be more thrilled to bring this exciting chapter to life."

The Indiana Gaming Commission selected Kentucky-based Churchill Downs in November 2021 to develop and operate the Terre Haute casino after the IGC determined the original license holder, Lucy Luck Gaming, made insufficient progress toward constructing a casino during the year it was in charge.

Terre Haute was assigned a state gaming license by the 2019 Indiana General Assembly as part of a plan to consolidate Gary's two Majestic Star gaming licenses into one, and to allow the Gary casino to relocate from Lake Michigan to a land-based site adjacent to Interstate 80-94 at Burr Street.

The $300 million Hard Rock Casino Northern Indiana opened in Gary on May 14, 2021. It's been the highest grossing casino in Indiana every month since October 2021.

At one point — when the Gary and Terre Haute casinos were going to have related ownership — the City of Gary was in line to receive 0.5% of adjusted gross revenue from slot machines and table games at the Terre Haute casino, and 0.5% of commissions from sports wagering vendors affiliated with the casino, during the first 10 years of gaming operations in Terre Haute.

That would have amounted to about $500,000 a year for Gary, or $5 million for the decade, if the number of slot machines and table games planned for the Terre Haute casino performed as well as the similarly sized French Lick Casino.

The deal was scuttled, however, after the state gaming agency forced ownership changes at both the Gary and Terre Haute casinos and ended the connection between the properties.

Last week, the Hard Rock Casino donated $3 million to Gary to support blight elimination in the Steel City, on top of the $6.15 million it annually pays to Gary as part of a local development agreement.

The Gary casino is owned by Hard Rock International — a business enterprise of the Seminole Tribe of Florida.