Voters in Allen, DeKalb and Steuben counties will decide on Tuesday whether inland casino gambling should be permitted in their county, the first step in a state process that could end with one new license for a casino resort worth at least $500 million in northeast Indiana.
Three northeast Indiana counties vote on November 3 on whether to allow a casino, with a yes vote opening the door for operators to bid for one new Indiana Gaming Commission license under House Enrolled Act 1038.
The question appears as Public Question No. 3 on ballots in Allen, DeKalb and Steuben counties, after questions on bail and judge residency, according to the Indiana Capital Chronicle. The wording is set out in the enrolled act, which requires each county election board to ask: “Shall inland casino gambling be permitted in (insert the name of the county)?”
A yes vote does not approve a casino. It makes a county eligible to host one, and the law allows the Commission to issue only one license across the three counties, however many of them vote in favor.
Northeast Indiana voters to decide potential casino’s fate https://t.co/3vwB9ZPtWJ
— Joe Hren (@Joe_Hren) October 14, 2026
What the ballot question decides
Each of the three counties votes separately on the same question. The act states that the Commission “may not issue a license under this article to allow an inland casino to operate in Allen County, DeKalb County, or Steuben County under IC 4-33-6.8 unless the voters of the county have approved inland casino gambling in the county.”
A no vote carries a lasting consequence. If a county’s voters reject the question, the law provides that “a second public question under this section may not be held in that county.”
The county election boards certified the question over the summer. CDC Gaming reported in July that the DeKalb County Election Board had certified the question for the November 3 ballot, after similar action earlier that month by election boards in Steuben and Allen counties.
How the single license would be awarded
If at least one county approves, the Commission must begin accepting applications. Any operator of a brick and mortar casino located in the US may apply, but it must do so by December 1, 2026, and must name Allen, DeKalb or Steuben as its proposed county.
Local support is built into the process. Each application must include a resolution supporting the applicant, adopted by a majority of the board of county commissioners in the chosen county, and a letter of support signed by the mayor if the casino would sit inside a municipality. Applicants must also commit to invest at least $500 million in a casino and non-gaming amenities, with at least 60% of the initial phase invested within two years of the license award.
The Commission must publish the filed applications and a summary of them by January 15, 2027, and issue a final decision by April 15, 2027. It may approve only one application, and it may deny all of them if it decides none serve the interests of the state. If more than one operator applies for the same county, the Commission may also seek sealed supplemental bids, which can include payments to the state or to the host community.
| Provision | What HEA 1038 says |
|---|---|
| Eligible counties | Allen, DeKalb and Steuben, only if local voters approve |
| Licenses available | One inland casino license |
| Application deadline | December 1, 2026 |
| Public summary of bids | By January 15, 2027 |
| Final decision | By April 15, 2027 |
| Minimum investment | $500m, with at least 60% of the initial phase within two years of the award |
| License fee | $150m in five equal annual payments ($100m to the state general fund, $50m to the shuttered riverboat fund) |
| Gambling games cap | 1,500 |
| Supplemental wagering tax | 3.5% of adjusted gross receipts |
| If a county votes no | No second public question in that county |
The approved applicant would pay a $150 million fee in five equal annual payments, with $100 million going to the state general fund and $50 million to the shuttered riverboat fund. The casino would be capped at 1,500 gambling games, would pay a supplemental wagering tax of 3.5% of adjusted gross receipts and would have to enter into a development agreement with its host county. Under the act’s distribution formula for the casino’s tax payments, 10% would go to the regional development authority for northeast Indiana, 45% to the host city and 45% to the host county.
From a Rising Star relocation to a new license
The law began life as a plan to move an existing casino. As first passed by the House, the bill would have relocated the Rising Star Casino license from Rising Sun on the Ohio River, with Allen, DeKalb, Steuben and Wayne counties eligible for a $500 million project.
Covering House Public Policy Committee this morning on HB1038.
— Niki Kelly (@nkellyIN) December 4, 2025
Rep. Craig Snow's bill would create a new casino license in Fort Wayne.
Chair Rep. Ethan Manning says mulitiple bills filed this year so lots of conversations going.
The final version leaves Rising Star in place. Ohio County and Rising Sun officials had raised concerns about how their local governments could be compensated if the community lost the casino that is its largest employer and taxpayer, the Indiana Capital Chronicle reported. Instead, the act authorizes a new inland casino license for the northeast and knocks off one unused “racino” license.
The changes did not please Full House Resorts, which owns Rising Star. After Gov. Mike Braun signed the bill in March, chief executive Dan Lee told analysts on the company’s earnings call: “You’re going to have three referendums where the opposition is probably well funded and the pro side probably isn’t.” Casino.org reported that the company has indicated it plans to maintain its existing operations in Rising Sun.
The revenue gap between the two markets explains the interest. Rising Star generates about $42 million a year in gross revenue and paid $3.6 million in state gaming taxes last year, while a 2025 Indiana Gaming Commission study projected that an Allen County casino could generate $204 million in revenue and $61 million in annual state taxes, according to the Indiana Capital Chronicle.
Campaigns for and against the casino
In Allen County, the political action committee Advance Fort Wayne Allen County is campaigning for a yes vote through its “Yes for Allen” effort. “We view this as a shared opportunity for Allen County and northeast Indiana to come together, create jobs, keep more dollars here at home, and build a stronger economic future for our entire community,” retired advertising executive Tom Borne told 21Alive News.
Supporters point to pressure on local budgets after the state’s 2025 property tax changes under Senate Enrolled Act 1. Steve Corona, the committee’s spokesman and a long-serving Fort Wayne Community Schools board member, said: “If we don’t look for new revenue, we’re going to have to figure out what we cut.” Fort Wayne Mayor Sharon Tucker’s office has also backed a casino, saying in a statement to 21Alive News that she is “optimistic about the economic development opportunities, jobs, and tourism that a casino would bring to our community.” In Steuben County, the Where Fun Wins political action committee is campaigning for approval alongside the county’s government, economic development agency and tourism bureau, according to the Indiana Capital Chronicle.
The opposition is led by the Coalition for a Better Indiana, which has chapters campaigning for no votes in all three counties. “The casino industry is predatory in nature,” said Kristen Bissontz, vice president of the group’s volunteer board. Cathie Humbarger, speaking for the coalition, argued that voters are being asked to approve a casino without knowing where it would go: “They don’t know where it would go in their county. It might go next door to a park, might go next door to a school.”
Rep. Marlin Stutzman, whose 3rd Congressional District covers all three counties, has also urged voters to reject the measure. “While many enjoy gambling as entertainment, several of our neighbors will eventually fall victim to the proposed casino as it seeks to generate profit off the backs of hard-working Hoosiers,” he said in a news release. “Business development is a top priority of mine, but gambling is the opposite.”
What happens after Tuesday
If no county approves, the process ends and any next step would be up to lawmakers, according to Commission officials quoted by WANE and reported by PlayUSA. If more than one county votes yes, applicants choose among the approved counties, and the Commission still awards a single license.
For operators, the timetable is short. Applications are due less than a month after Election Day, and each must arrive with a county commissioners’ resolution of support already in hand. The Commission is barred from deciding applications based on “lobbying, political pressure, or unverifiable claims,” and must instead weigh factors including the net economic benefit to the state, the number and quality of jobs, site feasibility and the impact on other Indiana casinos and the horse racing industry.
Indiana is not the only state with a gambling question on Tuesday’s ballot. In Nebraska, voters will decide Initiative Measures 440 and 441, which would authorize and regulate online sports wagering offered by operators at licensed racetrack casinos, according to the Nebraska Secretary of State’s ballot pamphlet. Gambling Insider tracks legislative activity across the country in its US gambling bill tracker.
Results in Allen, DeKalb and Steuben counties will be certified by each county’s circuit court clerk and sent to the Commission, which will then know which counties, if any, operators can target before the December 1 deadline.
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