A union wants a Lake County judge to stop the sale of the Ameristar Casino property in East Chicago, saying it breaks Indiana law and will financially hurt employees.
Unite Here, which represents 1,500 casino workers in Indiana, filed a petition for review and a petition for stay with the Lake County Circuit Court on Monday.
Unite Here has fought Pinnacle Entertainment’s attempt to sell Ameristar and another of its Indiana casinos, Belterra Resort, in Florence, to Gaming and Leisure Properties but has been denied by the Indiana Gaming Commission, which approved the sale in February. Representatives with either company and the Indiana Gaming Commission could not be reached for comment.
Unite Here claims in its court filings that the sale violates Indiana gaming law because a company is not allowed to own more than three casinos.
The Indiana Gaming Commission has said that this sale does not violate that law because GLP is only buying the land the two casinos sit on. A subsidary of Pinnacle will continue to hold the licenses for the casinos, and the company will rent the land for the casinos from GLP.
Unite Here calls the proposed deal a bad one for union employees, noting that the terms call for Pinnacle to pay almost 60 percent of its earnings in rent, which Unite Here argues might provide a short-term financial gain but will lead to a decline in business.
“As Unite Here has maintained from the outset, this excessive rent curtails Ameristar’s ability to pay employee wages and benefits and also keep its facility properly maintained, which will result in fewer customers and ultimately fewer employees,” Unite Here says in one of its court filings.
The sale is set to be finalized Thursday, so Unite Here issue a stay against the IGC’s approval of the sale pending a review of the case.
