French Lick Indiana, birth place to NBA legend Larry Bird is about to turn into home to a brand new casino. Although building is only scheduled to start in October, the city plans to hold a special formal groundbreaking tomorrow, marking the newest adding to the state’s casinos, and the first casino ever built in French Lick, Indiana. The company that is heading this plan is Blue Sky Casino, an affiliation between Cook Group, an associate of Bloomington-based medical-device maker, and real land developer Lauth Group.
Casino gamblers are not the only ones scheduled to profit from this new casino. The Blue Sky Casino group plans to share a percentage of the gambling related winnings with neighborhood communities in the county. The more the casino makes the more the neighborhood communities will get. For example, in the event that the casino income attains $100 million yearly, local administrator will get a share of $4 million. In addition to French Lick, the communities that stand to profit the most from the casino are West Baden Springs and Orange County.
Construction of the new casino is planned to be finished by late 2006. The casino will inhabit a 70,000-square-foot area, containing 1,000 slot casino machines and about 30 tables for casino table games such as poker and roulette. Majestic Star Casino, the company that at present operates the riverboat casino in Gary Indiana, is also the one that is going to supervise the new casino in French Lick.