Basketball great Larry Bird grew up in French Lick, Ind., but the depressed town has a new hero, Donald Trump. On Tuesday, Trump bested a group that included Bird and another that included Hinsdale-based gaming executive Joseph Canfora for the right to build a casino there.
But Canfora, featured in a June 4 Tempo story on the contest, may find some consolation that the Indiana Gaming Commission found his group’s proposal second best.
Canfora, a principal of Merit Management Group, said Wednesday he believed the casino proposals were comparable, but in the end “I think the Trump name has a mystique.”
But what if Trump’s casino firm, which must be restructured to relieve its crushing debt, can’t make good on its $108 million proposal? “If the commission and the Indiana community invited us back, we would be there,” Canfora said.