In 2003, Indiana's 10 riverboat casinos, including the Argosy in Lawrenceburg (above), paid $671 million in state and local taxes.
Almost half of Indiana's residents believe casino gambling -- and the millions of tax dollars it generates -- has been good for the state, but an even larger percentage say they don't want gambling expanded.
"I think we should keep it where it's at now -- we don't need to go any further," said Sonia Merkel, of Celestine in Dubois County.
Merkel, 37, is among the 55 percent of state residents opposed to increasing the availability of gambling in Indiana, according to a new Indianapolis Star-WTHR (Channel 13) poll.
The poll of 700 Hoosiers also found that 47 percent believe casino gambling has been good for the state, while 28 percent said it has been bad and 25 percent said they were not sure.
Less than a quarter of poll respondents said they had visited an Indiana casino or racetrack in the past year.
The poll, conducted May 13-19, has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.7 percentage points.
Merkel, a mother and business owner, admitted having mixed feelings about gambling. She's not a big fan, personally, but she and her husband are part owners of the Happy Hour Sports Bar and Grill on Ind. 164 near Patoka Lake.
"We're on one of the main highways about 10 miles from French Lick, and our business should really benefit when they start gambling there," she said.
After years of wrangling, Orange County residents last November approved casino gambling in hopes of attracting developers to renovate two historic hotels and create jobs in the economically depressed French Lick area. State and local officials are now reviewing proposals from three groups hoping to win the state's 11th and final casino license.
"I see where the other side is coming from and why they don't want it," Merkel said. "There may be an increase in crime and adversities, especially for people who have problems with gambling. But it seems like most of the people around here are really anticipating it."
Greg Gochenour, 37, a factory worker from Frankfort, is not among them. He opposes gambling for moral reasons and doesn't see it as something the state should promote.
"I don't really think it's healthy for the economy," said Gochenour, who has never visited an Indiana casino or horse track.
"We all know it can be a disease and that it can get out of control for some people," he said. "To me, the state backing it is just another way of sucking money out of the pockets of people who can't afford it."
Mark Waskom, 56, Seymour, takes a more pragmatic approach.
"People are going to gamble whether they can do it in Indiana or someplace else. If we don't have it, the state will just lose out," Waskom said.
"We might as well get something, since it seems like the state is always out of money. I think it has definitely been a plus, and I would be OK with some expansion."
Indiana legislators on both sides of the aisle say gambling is likely to be an issue in the 2005 General Assembly.
During the 2004 session, a proposal to allow 1,000 electronic pull-tab machines at the state's two horse tracks and 1,500 at off-track betting parlors passed the House, where revenue-generating proposals originate. But it stalled in the Senate's Rules and Legislative Procedures Committee.
"Those who want to expand the racetrack off-track betting parlors to little mini-casinos will continue to try to carry that ball. In addition, there are folks who want to establish land-based casinos here in the state," said House Minority Leader Brian Bosma, R-Indianapolis, who generally opposes the expansion of gambling.
In 2003, Indiana's 10 riverboat casinos made $2.16 billion in revenue and paid $671 million in state and local taxes. Gambling tax revenues are expected to account for about 5.5 percent of Indiana's $10.6 billion operating budget in 2004.
Indiana isn't alone in allowing gambling to increase state revenue without raising taxes. Currently, all but two states -- Hawaii and Utah -- allow some type of gambling, ranging from charity bingo and lotteries to horse racing and casinos.
The expansion of legalized gambling was proposed this year in at least 18 other states, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Most proposals involved slot machines and other electronic gaming devises.
Mandy Rafool, a policy analyst for the conference, said public tolerance of gambling appears to be increasing, especially when people are offered a choice between gambling expansion and tax increases.
But House Speaker B. Patrick Bauer, D-South Bend, doesn't see the expansion of gambling as a sure thing in Indiana.
"I can't predict what will occur -- except that we will review it again," he said.
Bosma and Bauer said they have concerns about the state becoming too dependent on gambling revenues.
"One thing we had always tried to do is not use gaming (revenue) for operating," Bauer said. "But because of the recession and people's abhorrence of increases in taxes, it became necessary to do it as a stopgap measure."
Bosma said gambling revenues could drop because of competition from other states -- including Illinois, which could add casinos in the Chicago area to woo back gamblers spending millions of dollars at riverboats in northwest Indiana.
Like the majority of Hoosiers polled, Tom Winters, of Lafayette, isn't a gambler -- and he doesn't want to see it expanded.
"I see it as something that puts a whole lot of money in the pockets of rich people like Donald Trump and takes food out of the mouths of Indiana kids," said Winters, 46.
"The taxes may have helped some, but we just end up spending more for police protection and the crimes and other problems that go along with it," he said.
http://www.indystar.com/articles/7/149576-3367-009.html
