Former Indiana Rep. Sean Eberhart received his sentence in a case that state lawmakers have said could delay Indiana online casino talks several years.
Earlier this month, US District Judge Matthew Brookman sentenced Eberhart to one year and one day in federal prison, according to a release from the US Attorney’s Southern District of Indiana Office. Eberhart plead guilty late last year to conspiracy to commit honest services fraud to benefit Indiana casino company Spectacle Entertainment in return for a future job.
Following his guilty plea, Senate leadership said there would be no action on Indiana online casino legalization because of the case. They feared the public lost trust in the legislature around gambling issues. Indiana legalized sports betting in 2019.
“It taints the Statehouse, it diminishes the confidence that people have in the integrity of the Statehouse, it causes an awful lot of problems and it makes it particularly difficult to engage in that kind of policy,” Senate President Pro Tem Rodric Bray told the Indiana Capital Chronicle in November 2023, following Eberhart’s guilty plea.
Eberhart’s Indiana sentence
Along with the prison sentence, Brookman ordered Eberhart to pay $25,000 in fines and $60,000 in restitution.
According to the release, from January to May 2019, Eberhart and an unnamed individual worked up a plan to benefit Spectacle in return for a future job at the company for Eberhart that included a $350,000 salary and equity stake in the company. In return, Eberhart agreed to use his position to advocate for a gambling bill that benefited Spectacle.
“This criminal’s former constituents, and all Hoosiers, rightfully expect elected officials to act on the public’s behalf, and not to line their own pockets. Legislation must not be for sale to the highest bidder, especially when they have such a tremendous impact on our state and its economy,” Zachary A. Myers, US Attorney for the Southern District of Indiana, said in the release.
“Public office is a public trust, and those who break that trust by taking bribes will be identified and held accountable. The federal prison sentence imposed today demonstrates our office’s commitment to root out public corruption at all levels of government and uphold the law regardless offenders’ status or position.”
Indiana casino bill Eberhart supported
Eberhart served in the Indiana House of Representatives from 2006 to 2022. He was a member of the Committee on Public Policy, which oversees gambling legislation.
The bill at the heart of the plan would authorize the transfer of two casino licenses to Spectacle. It also reduced the $100 million transfer fee to $20,000.
During a hearing for the bill, Eberhart suggested removing the transfer fee all together, according to the release. In a separate hearing for the bill Eberhart also advocated for a 20% tax rate that would benefit the company, according to the release.
Spectacle fined, sold in 2021 to US online casino company
In 2021, the Indiana Gaming Commission fined Spectacle $530,000. Spectacle’s fine was because the company failed to remove former CEO Rod Ratcliff from his position during a 53-day period.
The IGC banned Ratcliff from Indiana casino industry in 2021 and required him to sell his shares in Spectacle in connection to a federal campaign violation. In 2022, former Spectacle executive John Keeler and Indiana state Sen. Brent Waltz were charged in a case for illegally funneling gambling money into Waltz’s unsuccessful US Senate campaign.
Hard Rock International purchased Spectacle in 2021.
