The Associated Press

FRENCH LICK, Ind. - Supporters of a long-running campaign to bring riverboat casino gambling to Orange County have seen the success of casinos in Greater Cincinnati. Now, they are hoping the Indiana House's new leadership could help their cause.

State Rep. Jerry Denbo plans to try again next year to win approval for a casino to lure tourists to historic French Lick and West Baden, about three hours southwest of Cincinnati.

After years of legislative failures, Mr. Denbo is convinced this year could be different, in part because newly elected House Speaker B. Patrick Bauer, D-South Bend, has pledged to move the bill and support its passage.

"We'll get a fair shot for a change," said Mr. Denbo, D-French Lick.

The riverboat's boosters believe returning gambling to Orange County will spur development in the economically distressed county.

Mr. Denbo envisions a smaller casino located in a manmade waterway linking each town's historic - but deteriorating - grand hotels.

Trolley cars would run between the hotels and the riverboat, and along a one-mile promenade with historic shops and restaurants.

"Our casino would be different than a lot of others," Mr. Denbo said. "There would not be a restaurant in the casino, no gift shops. The casino would be strictly for the gaming itself. That would give other people the opportunity to open restaurants along the walkway."

But his enthusiasm for the project is belied by an underlying frustration: Nearly a decade after the Legislature first passed the bill authorizing riverboats - and specifying a casino near French Lick - none has been built in the region.

The Indiana Gaming Commission now oversees 10 Indiana casinos along the Ohio River and Lake Michigan. They employ about 16,000 people and made about $493 million in gaming tax revenue last year from 19.6 million patrons.

State legislators' June decision to permit dockside gambling promises bigger wins in future years. The commission has reported that the southeastern Indiana casinos - Argosy Casino in Lawrenceburg, Grand Victoria Casino in Rising Sun and Belterra Casino in Switzerland County - reported $54.1 million in gaming revenue in September, which was about $8 million than in September 2001.

While 10 riverboat casinos are flourishing and pumping millions of dollars into communities along the Ohio River and Lake Michigan, Orange County is struggling.

The county's unemployment rate remains at more than 9 percent, and its median household income is 20 percent below the state average. The number of county residents living below the poverty level is a third higher than the statewide average.

The original 1993 casino law authorized five boats on the Ohio River, five on Lake Michigan and one on Patoka Lake, which spans the confluence of Crawford, Orange and Dubois counties.

All three counties would have benefited from the boat - by direct tax revenues and indirect development.

But the Army Corps of Engineers - which oversees Patoka Lake - refused to authorize a casino there, so the state's 11th riverboat license remains dormant.