Thursday, July 15, 1999
Ind. county sees casino's new era
Ground broken for resort development
BY RACHEL MELCER
The Cincinnati Enquirer
FLORENCE, Ind. — With the turn of a spade Wednesday, Hollywood Park casino officials planted the seeds of economic prosperity in the rich earth of this tiny Switzerland County community.
Surrounded by more than 500 supporters and local officials, they broke ground in the 270-acre corn and soybean field where a $165 million riverboat casino and resort complex will grow.
The development, dubbed “Belterra” for the beautiful land on which it sits, is scheduled to debut in August 2000. Located on Ind. 156, about 40 miles southwest of Cincinnati and a half-mile east of the Markland Dam, it will be the last of the state's 10 riverboat casinos.
“I hope people will be awed by its beauty and that it will grow the (gambling) market and it will be a place people will talk about and come to spend a few days at,” said Hollywood Park president and chief operating officer Paul Alanis. “I think it will have a great positive impact.”
It will include a 15-story, 300-room hotel, tennis courts, spa and meeting or entertainment hall. An 18-hole championship golf course will open for play in spring 2001.
The centerpiece will be the casino riverboat, its 38,000 square feet of gaming space filled with 1,300 slot machines and 55 table games.
About 1.5 million people are expected to cross its threshold each year, leaving behind millions of dollars in receipts and tax revenue. Most will come from Cincinnati, Indianapolis, Louisville and Lexington.
“I don't think there will be a soul in this entire county that won't benefit from it. Not one living man, woman, child,” said Tom Conroy, chairman of the Switzerland Coalition on Riverboat Excellence (SCORE), who led the five-year drive for a state-issued casino license. The county population is about 8,000.
During the first five years of operation, company officials estimate, they will pay gaming taxes of $150 million to the state and $75 million to the host county. The surrounding counties of Crawford and Jef ferson will get about $1 million a year and Ripley County, which also gets a share of gaming revenue from Grand Victoria Casino in Rising Sun, will receive $500,000 annually.
That's big news in this mostly rural, largely cash-strapped region. Most Switzerland County residents work in one of two local factories, or cross the Markland Dam bridge to jobs in Northern Kentucky.
Now there will be an estimated 700 local jobs during construction and 1,400 when the complex opens.
Switzerland County and Vevay town leaders know not to expect hordes of gamblers pouring onto their main street to patronize local businesses.
“We expect the great majority of people to go to the casino and then back home. What we're looking forward to is the resources to develop some other projects within the county. We've had a wish list for a very long time,” said Ann Mulligan, executive director of the Switzerland County Convention and Visitors Bureau.
“There was a lot of weeping in the crowd today because people were just rejoicing,” said Vevay Town Board member Hilbert Scudder, after wielding one of 14 ceremonial groundbreaking shovels. “Today was the biggest thing that's ever happened to Switzerland County. It's a great day.”
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