Orange County approves casino

Passage of the referendum clears the way for a casino to be built between two historic hotels in French Lick and West Baden Springs -- something many believe is the area's only chance for economic revival and reduced unemployment.\nBut some long-time backers made bolder predictions than that, saying the sleepy pocket tucked in the hills of southern Indiana would become the gambling resort it once was decades ago.\n"We're going to leave a legacy, not only for our kids and our grandkids and their kids," said state Rep. Jerry Denbo, a Democrat from French Lick who won passage of casino legislation in the General Assembly this year. "We are going to take what is the poorest county in the state and turn it into the garden of the Midwest."\nDenbo was among more than 300 supporters who celebrated the victory with hugs, hollers and beer at a ballroom at the French Lick Springs Resort. Some had made repeated trips to the Statehouse over the past 10 years lobbying for a casino.\nThey had long predicted the referendum would pass. But they pressed ahead with a small army of volunteers who monitored polling places at each precinct, ran phone banks from a picture studio in downtown Paoli and drove supporters without rides to the polls.\n"You don't spend 12 years working for something and leave it to chance on the last lap," said Barry Wininger, a member of the French Lick Town Council and part of Tuesday's get-out-the-vote effort.\nMany opponents predicted that a casino would lead to more social ills, including increased crime, bankruptcies and domestic problems.\nRobert Hoyt, leader of the Orange County Coalition Against Legalized Gambling, was monitoring election returns at the county courthouse but walked out before 8 p.m., conceding defeat.\nHoyt blamed the loss on misinformation and the "massive amounts of money" prospective casino operators spent on the campaign.\n"We did the best we could," Hoyt said. "I think we gave them much more of a fight than they thought was possible."\nIt could be several months before a casino operator is chosen and construction on a casino begins. Officials must pass local ordinances to support the venture. The Indiana Gaming Commission will make the final decision on awarding a casino contract.\nCasino opponents clearly went into Tuesday's election with more political and financial clout.\nMost elected officials favored a casino, including several town council members, Denbo and Sheriff Doyle Cornwell.\nAdvocates raised more than $100,000 to promote the venture, receiving $20,000 each from the five companies or groups vying to run the casino. Larry Bird, the basketball legend who grew up in French Lick and still owns a house there, is among investors in one of the groups.\nHoyt said he and other opponents were probably outspent 20-to-1.\n"It's no longer David vs. Goliath, it's become Bambi vs. Godzilla," he said.\nThe fight over the referendum has been bitter for weeks, with both sides accusing the other of personal attacks and negative tactics.\nWhile some said the hard feelings would linger, Marilyn Wilson of French Lick, a casino proponent, said most wounds would heal quickly.\n"Most everyone around here knows each other and many were raised together," she said. "We'll come together"