GARY, Ind. — Just five months after the Indiana Riverboat Gaming Act went into law, developer, real estate mogul, and future president of the United States Donald Trump pitched his proposal for bringing gambling to Gary.
“We’re going to build something that this area, and that includes Chicago, that this area has never seen,” Trump said. “It’s going to be first-class, it’s going to be world-class.”
Part of the Trump team’s proposal was a snazzy music video showing Trump’s properties and video of him with celebrities like Michael Jackson, all paired with Tina Turner’s song, “Simply the Best.”
As WRTV reporter Norman Cox put it, “The Donald hit Gary with the publicity machine running full blast.”
Trump’s $130-million proposal called for redeveloping a property owned by U.S. Steel with a gambling boat, hotel and a marina entertainment complex.
Construction workers in attendance at the press conference held signs with the equation, “Trump + Gary = Jobs.” It was welcome news for the workers who said Gary needed an economic boost.
"The economy is so bad right now that this is a great opportunity for the Gary people,” construction worker Charles Mag said.
"He's got it all down on paper and has it all figured out, all calculated out already,” construction worker Joe Smith said. “He has all the numbers down."
But not everyone was wooed by the proposal.
"He's a businessman," Gary Deputy Mayor Richard Comer said. “And he's trying to use his best techniques. Sometimes some people respond to being overwhelmed and sometimes they don’t.”
The U.S. Steel property wasn’t the only potential site in the running. Land owned by Buffington Cement was also seen as a potential site for riverboat gambling. Community leaders toured both sites later that month, where they unsurprisingly encountered less-than-desirable weather.
The list of developers still in the running for one of two gambling licenses was whittled down to four contenders by December 1994.
Each presented their proposal to the Indiana Gaming Commission. Trump touted his track record and financial clout. Although Gary officials voiced opposition to Trump’s proposal, his organization was ultimately awarded one of the two licenses.
“Very happy," Trump said. “I think it’s great.”
The other license went to a different Donald, Detroit-based businessman Don Barden. However, neither of the Gary-based riverboats were the first in operation. That distinction went to Casino Aztar based on the Ohio River in Evansville in December 1995.
Trump and Barden’s riverboat casinos opened in June 1996, though their cruises didn’t go far thanks to the Johnson Act, a 1950s-era law which prohibited gambling on U.S. territorial waters. President Clinton signed an exemption to the act that would allow the riverboats to leave the dock.
Trump Casinos filed for bankruptcy in 2004. The Trump Casino riverboat was sold to Barden and renamed Majestic Star II in 2005.
