Some Indiana lawmakers are willing, apparently, to allow Indiana’s casinos to sink or swim without help in trying to combat competition from new casinos in adjoining states, reports the Associated Press. What are these legislators thinking?
Indiana’s older, but once-robust casino industry, is paying the price of trying to compete against newer gambling facilities, particularly the newest, the Horseshoe Casino Cincinnati in that city’s downtown.
It’s a long time from when Indiana’s casinos, out of the gate first in the Midwest, dominated destination gambling in the region, bringing in jobs, economic development, and entertainment. Of course, Casino Aztar in Evansville was the Hoosier first. Indeed, casino gambling has been good to Evansville and Indiana, and the state and city have been good to them.
And yet, some lawmakers, as well as Gov. Mike Pence, seem willing now to let it go, saying they are not interested in seeing an expansion of gambling in Indiana.
Republican House Speaker Brian Bosma said in the AP report, “I’m not prepared to engage in a massive expansion of gambling just to keep revenues up. I don’t want to see us get any deeper.”
We do hope he is willing to keep the jobs.
It is one thing to actually try to do a “massive expansion,” but it is another to modernize what you have, in order to continue the benefits to Indiana communities such as Evansville that casinos bring them. Moving to land is but one example.
Earlier in the session, legislation was proposed to allow Indiana casinos that are docked on water to move ashore. Pence responded by appealing to lawmakers to reject the legislation, calling such a move an “expansion” of gambling.
Nonsense! All it would do in Evansville would spare Casino Aztar the expense of keeping the riverboat maintained and operational. That’s not an expansion. It’s a move that would better assure that Aztar’s 1,000 or so employees keep their jobs.
Aztar officials said in March that if the legislation should pass, they would build an on-land facility on the Evansville riverfront, but within the 20-acre footprint of the current Aztar entertainment complex.
Other legislative proposals included tax reductions, and table games at the state’s two horse-track casinos.
But with the legislative session rapidly coming to an end, it is unlikely anything positive would develop. Instead, according to the AP report, state budget planners are anticipating 20 percent drop in casino tax revenues in the coming years, with no procedural changes.
As we said previously on this page, if Indiana wants casino gambling to continue contributing to state and local economies, then it must allow its casinos to remain competitive.