NEW HAVEN, Ind. (WANE) — In 1994, Kelly Mollaun was working as a plastics salesman and voting against a proposed casino in his hometown of Lawrenceburg, Indiana.
Today, he is the Republican mayor of Lawrenceburg and selling the benefits that gaming taxes can have on a small city.
“We’ve had a very positive experience,” he told WANE 15 last week, as he visited New Haven, which could also become a casino city if the Indiana legislature blesses the proposed move of the Full House Resorts casino in Rising Sun.
His upbeat assessment was being shared at the same time Full House Resorts (FLL) stock price hit a low for the year.
Mollaun said in the ’90’s, he heard all the arguments and worst-case scenarios of additional crime and broken families, which he hears now being used by the opponents of the New Haven casino.
“I was one of those that believed that,” said Mollaun. “But I lived it, and I’m living it now, and I know the facts. It’s not happening in Lawrenceburg.”
Mollaun said he made the trip to get to know New Haven Mayor Steve McMichael, who he expected to join the coalition of “casino host city” mayors.