When gaming company Spectacle Entertainment bought two casinos in Gary last year, it turned to a state representative for title insurance and closing services.

That same lawmaker — Rep. Jerry Torr, R-Carmel — then voted in favor of legislation that could allow Spectacle to move those casinos to new, more lucrative locations in Gary and Terre Haute.

The business ties are the latest to raise questions about Spectacle and its possible attempts to influence elected officials at the Statehouse. The company also paid for at least two private jet flights for Gov. Eric Holcomb and one of Spectacle's principal investors arranged a contract for House Speaker Brian Bosma last year with Vigo County.

The bill Torr supported represents one of the biggest changes to Indiana's gambling laws in a generation and could dramatically increase the value of Spectacle's two gaming licenses, while also providing the company a large tax break. Holcomb is now weighing whether to sign it into law.

In addition to voting for the bill, Torr played a small but critical role in advancing it during the legislative session's final days. When lawmakers had to move the gaming language from a Senate bill into a House bill for procedural reasons, Torr agreed to move the language to an "unused" bill he had authored. He was removed as the author of the legislation before it got pushed across the finish line.

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Torr defended his actions, saying he gave up his estimated $3,000 to $4,000 commission from the deal with Spectacle prior to the vote. He later disclosed his business relationship with Spectacle to a House ethics committee, but only after voting in favor of an earlier version of the bill.

"I decided I would rather give up the potential income than not represent my voters," he told IndyStar. "I suppose you guys are going to spin it however your editors want you to, but that’s the God’s honest truth."

But political and ethics experts say he shouldn't have voted.

"Simply not taking the commission does not absolve somebody of the appearance of wrongdoing," said Andy Downs, director of the Mike Downs Center for Indiana Politics. "It certainly mitigates it, but some people would say he didn’t profit from this deal, but what happens the next time they hire you? That doesn’t mean there won’t be a financial gain."

'Longtime friend'

Torr said Spectacle attorney John Keeler, who is also a former lawmaker, asked him sometime last summer to handle the title insurance and closing work for Spectacle's purchase of two Gary casinos. Torr said he is a commercial account manager for Near North National Title.

At the time, Torr said he didn't know Spectacle would be pushing for legislative action during the 2019 session, even though a legislative committee had been tasked with studying the potential movement of the two Gary casinos out of Buffington Harbor in Gary, which would require legislative approval. Torr did not serve on that committee.

Torr described Keeler as a "longtime friend." The two Republicans had served together in the House and Torr said he had previously done title work for "various commercial properties" Keeler and his family had owned personally.

Keeler did not return multiple phone calls from IndyStar.

Torr said that once he learned the company was pushing legislation late last year, he asked his CEO to not give him any commission from the deal "out of an abundance of caution."

IndyStar requested any evidence that Torr gave up his commission, but he said his communications with his CEO were oral.

In April, Torr voted in favor of the measure, Senate Bill 552, on the House floor. More than a week later, he wrote to the House Committee on Ethics to request a formal opinion, "given some of the news stories" IndyStar had written about Bosma and Holcomb's ties to Spectacle and its owners.

The legislation, which became House Bill 1015, legalizes sports wagering, allows for a new Terre Haute casino and permits Spectacle Entertainment to move one of its two recently purchased Gary licenses miles away from the lakefront to a more heavily traveled area for a $20 million fee.

In doing so, Spectacle would have to give up its second license. The state gaming commission would then allow casino operators, including Spectacle, to compete for the opportunity to use that license for a casino in Terre Haute. In exchange, Spectacle would receive a tax break that could amount to tens of millions of dollars.

In his interview with IndyStar, Torr said he never tried to convince other lawmakers to vote a certain way. He emphasized that the title work was related to Spectacle's purchase of the two existing casinos in Gary, not the company's effort to move them.

But he didn't rule out the possibility that his company might handle future work for Spectacle relating to those relocation efforts. If that happened, he said, he would again sacrifice his commission.

In an April 23 letter, the bipartisan House Committee on Ethics said it saw no issue with the arrangement because Torr didn't have a "direct personal or pecuniary interest," as defined in House ethics rules.

Abe Schwab, a professor of ethics at Purdue University Fort Wayne, said unconscious biases can affect lawmakers in these scenarios, even if their goal is to do what's best for constituents. Lawmakers still have those personal relationships and potential future business ties.

"It’s not simply a question of how well intentioned the individual is," Schwab said. "Even if everybody in the circumstance is well intentioned, it’s gong to effect their judgment whether they like it or not."

'Strange set of coincidences'

It's not particularly uncommon for lawmakers to have conflicts of interest in the Statehouse, especially in a legislature that convenes only part time. But what makes this particular situation stand out is the fact that one company, Spectacle Entertainment, is at the center of three separate controversies.

"It’d be a strange set of coincidences," Schwab said.

Spectacle Entertainment paid more than $50,000 to fly Holcomb to Republican Governors Association meetings in July and November, giving Spectacle Entertainment investors exclusive access to the governor — who is expected to make a final decision about the gaming legislation any day.

"This stuff isn’t hard," Schwab said. "Does Holcomb need to be taking private flights? In what world is that necessary?"

In another situation that raised conflict-of-interest questions, House Speaker Brian Bosma recused himself from voting on any gaming legislation because he and his law firm are providing legal representation to the Vigo County Capital Improvement Board — a local entity that stands to benefit from a Terre Haute casino.

That contract was arranged by Spectacle investor Greg Gibson, who at the time served on the CIB board. It's unclear what Gibson's role with Spectacle was at the time he arranged the contract with Bosma.

Robert Dion, a political science professor at the University of Evansville, said the controversy surrounding the casino legislation makes it clear that the state's ethics laws need to be strengthened.

"More than that, our lawmakers need to be going above and beyond to make sure that they avoid even the appearance of impropriety," he said.

"One reason why voters have such a dim view of our government is that they are convinced that the system is rigged in favor of the rich and the powerful," he said. "There is a surprising amount of money sloshing around the General Assembly, and the rules governing all of this are pretty lax. It’s no wonder that people get so disgusted with the political system."

Contact IndyStar reporter Tony Cook at 317-444-6081 or tony.cook@indystar.com. Follow him on Facebook or Twitter: @IndyStarTony.

Call IndyStar Statehouse reporter Kaitlin Lange at 317-432-9270. Follow her on Twitter: @kaitlin_lange.