Hard Rock Northern Indiana, built off Interstate 94, is a newer and potentially more lucrative inland replacement for the Majestic Star Casino, a facility on Lake Michigan which Spectacle purchased in 2019 with the intent of moving it and rebranding. Inland Replacement for Aging Majestic Star Ratcliff ultimately agreed in March to sell his stake in the Gary project and permanently relinquish his Indiana state casino license, paving the way for the Hard Rock facility to open. The charges led the Spectacle brass to give up their ownership stake in a company formed to develop a casino in Terre Haute, Indiana. Complicating matters further, a federal investigation was opened into alleged improper campaign contributions made by a Spectacle vice president, a scheme state regulators claimed Ratcliff was also part of. Ratcliff responded with a lawsuit filed in January, which further placed the opening of the $300 million Gary facility in flux. Ratcliff, long a power player in the Hoosier State casino industry, allegedly had employees at a former company transfer around $900,000 to his personal horse wagering account, and did not disclose the earnings as required by his state gambling license.ĭays before Hard Rock Northern Indiana’s planned opening, the state gaming commission temporarily suspended Ratcliff’s gaming license due to the investigation.

State officials claimed the Spectacle CEO funneled nearly $1 million in casino company money into his own horse race wagering account and made improper job offers to government lobbyists. 31, 2020, but a state investigation into Ratcliff’s alleged financial wrongdoings delayed those plans. The Hard Rock in Gary had initially scheduled a phased opening beginning Dec. The casino will hold a soft opening with a friends and family event May 11, the Chicago Tribune report said, with a VIP event the next day before opening to the public. The state fined Spectacle $530,000 for not immediately removing Ratcliff as a trustee, the Terre Haute Tribune-Star reported.

The $300 million gaming facility in Gary will open May 14, according to the Chicago Tribune, after the settlement of a dispute involving alleged improper financial dealings by Rod Ratcliff, the former chairman of Indianapolis-based Spectacle Entertainment, which built Hard Rock Northern Indiana.

At long last, a new Hard Rock Casino in northern Indiana is set to open - without the chairman of the development company that built it.

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