June 23, 2008

Might the slippery slider stop their own slide?

Amid my concerns about Indiana’s continuing slide down the slippery slope of gambling, I never anticipated hearing similar concerns from an unlikely source ... the gambling industry itself.

Indiana depends upon gambling revenues for too much of its budget, the state has no business promoting the prospect of getting something for nothing, and the biggest contributors to state coffers through the casinos is too often those who can least afford it. Beyond that, I have no problem with the whole issue.

With the opening of the new slots casino at the Anderson horse race track and the soon-to-be opening of a similar facility just southeast of Indianapolis, we heard the first grumblings from paradise: the operators of the casinos along the Ohio River are worried about losing business to these upstarts.

Hmmm. Too bad.

As I’ve lamented before in this space, the new slots-only casinos will surely argue at some point that they may as well have table games. Meanwhile, privately-owned bars will complain that they are having trouble competing with the fraternal-organization bars (who are being allowed to sell pull-tabs). Once the corner bar has pull tabs, the CherryMasters will return and soon we’ll have a mini-casino on every corner.

We can change the names of all our communities to “Potterville.” Or maybe that’s what we should re-name the state. How’s it sound: The Potterville Pacers.

But wait. The gaming industry doesn’t want that because fewer people will drive all the way down to Belterra or Elizabeth. The riverboat casinos will lose money and perhaps even shut down. The race tracks and their casinos will also suffer. They talked the General Assembly into granting them slot machines in order to stay open; wonder what concession they’ll ask for next?

So on the one hand we have a powerful and burgeoning gambling industry lobbying the state for more expansion, allied (or perhaps in competition) with the fraternal organizations who want to use gambling to stay open. On the other hand we have the prospect of market saturation and all the difficulties that might bring on the casino operators.

Not sure who to root for.

by MARK MILLER

Email Mark Miller

Talk about this story in our forums!