Indy Star: Holcomb Accepted Free Flights From Casino Company CEO

Friday, March 29, 2019 at 9:04 AM

By Mike Perleberg @mikedup84

The report also found that the casino executive with Spectacle Entertainment made large donations to one of the governor's biggest campaign contributors.

Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb. AP Photo/MICHAEL CONROY.

(Indianapolis, Ind.) – Flights and political donations from the CEO and chairman of an Indiana casino company are putting Indiana Governor Eric Holcomb under the microscope.

The Indianapolis Star reports that Spectacle Entertainment CEO Rod Ratcliff provided trips to the governor at the same time he was pushing for changes to state law that would benefit his business, which owns the Majestic Star casinos in Gary, Indiana.

The report claims Ratcliff’s private jet flights for Holcomb to Colorado and Arizona gave Ratcliff and his business partners hours of exclusive access to the governor. The flights were part of $500,000 Ratcliff and his companies contributed in 2018 to the Republican Governors Association, which aids GOP candidates in gubernatorial elections nationwide.

A July flight to Aspen, Colorado was reported to the IRS by the RGA with a travel contribution from one of Ratcliff’s companies.

A flight to Scottsdale, Arizona in November, however, was not reported. It came a day before Ratcliff and business partner Greg Gibson announced plans to acquire the casinos in Gary.

Holcomb’s campaign treasurer and Indiana Republican Party Chairman Kyle Hupfer defended the flights in a written response to The Star as “perfectly legal and customary.”

The Indy Star also reports that Ratcliff contributed $7.6 million to the RGA, which provided most of Holcomb’s 2016 campaign funding.

Indiana law bans campaign contributions from casino interests, but some view Ratcliff’s RGA contributions as a way around that. State law does not ban casino interests from donating to national organizations.

Spectacle Entertainment currently stands to benefit from a casinos gaming bill which may allow one of its Gary casino licenses to be relocated to a proposed casino in Terre Haute.