The governor and lawmakers who manipulated legislation to keep live dealers out of Hoosier Park and Indiana Grand for the next six years failed to understand two important considerations:
• The idea that any "expansion of gambling" should be resisted in Indiana is a relic from a past generation.
• The greatest threat of competition to Hoosier casinos now comes from outside the state's borders.
House Bill 1540 allows Indiana's 11 riverboat casinos to move from the docks onto adjacent dry land. It passed the state House of Representatives by a 75-11 vote Wednesday and previously passed the state Senate 33-16. It now sits on Gov. Mike Pence's desk.
The bill is great for riverboat casinos, since it will give them more control over their environments and the ability to attract more patrons.
But riverboat casino interests convinced legislators that those venues would suffer if live dealers were allowed to replace some electronic gaming tables in the state's two racinos, Anderson's Hoosier Park and Shelbyville's Indiana Grand, both owned by Centaur Gaming.
Pence applied unevenly his old-fashioned notion that any advance in gaming offerings at Indiana casinos should be suppressed because it amounts to an expansion of gambling.
He has expressed a willingness to let the riverboats move onto land, but at the same time insisted that live dealers be kept out of Hoosier Park and Indiana Grand until 2021. Prospectively, Pence will have finished his second and last term in the governor's office by that point. Given his penchant for missteps and his insistence on imposing his ultra-conservative social dogma on Hoosiers, a second term is far from a certainty.
Would the introduction of live dealers at the two racinos tear at the moral fabric of the state? Certainly not.
Would the live dealers cut into the business of the riverboats? Perhaps.
But the larger concern for Indiana casinos, as a whole, is increasing competition from gaming venues just beyond Hoosier borders. New sites in Ohio and Illinois, in particular, are putting the hurt on Indiana casinos.
Live dealers at Hoosier Park are not a panacea for the casino. But they would help draw new customers, generate perhaps a couple hundred jobs and increase local tax revenue.
This last point is of particular concern, since House Bill 1540 also partially alleviates the tax burden on casinos, reducing the racino wagering tax from 91.5 percent to 88 percent of adjusted gross receipts beginning in July, meaning a reduction in tax dollars for local use.
Pence is expected to sign the bill into law or simply to let it become law by not acting on it. So, Hoosier Park and Indiana Grand will have to wait until 2021 for live dealers. Meanwhile, competitive pressure from rival casinos in nearby states will only intensify.