Ind. pull-tab update

The push to put pull-tabs at Indiana's two pari-mutuel tracks may quickly stall if a consensus is not reached. That was the message from Rep. Robert Alderman during a three-hour meeting of the House Public Policy and Veterans Affairs Committee Wednesday, Jan. 26. Alderman, the committee chairman, is looking for one proposal, and not two competing bills, to advance.



The two bills calling for 2,500 pull-tab or slot machines at both Hoosier Park and Indiana Downs received their first reading Wednesday. In each measure, the machines have been identified as the primary funding source for a $500 million retractable-roof stadium for the Indianapolis Colts. Indianapolis Mayor Bart Peterson has said pull-tabs are key to generating the $46 million annually he says is required to fund a new home for the NFL franchise.



"Clearly all the various parties in the bill do not agree," Alderman told those in attendance Wednesday. "I want a single specific proposal placed before me."



Alderman, R-Fort Wayne, is also concerned that the slots-for-stadium proposal will influence the 2006 legislative elections. For that reason he is willing to pull the legislation before it becomes a political issue.



Pull-tab legislation has advanced through the Indiana House each of the last two years. In both instances it has died in the Senate.

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