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28 Comments
For it to have taken this long to seriously consider Indy for a casino with the convention and sports attractions is absurd. A prime example of the undue influence of rural politics and the hatred of Indy as the driving economic engine of the state.
Union Station would have been a great location.
It’s long overdue.
If you want to have a convention with gambling, you go to Las Vegas.
The conventions that come to Indianapolis have asked for more hotel rooms, which have been built with much consternation (Signia). But have FFA and GenCon and PRI or FDIC asked for a casino?
Would a casino be a positive or negative for them?
Joe B. How could a casino be a negative to someone attending a convention? We aren’t just trying to keep current conventions but lure new ones as well. Just about every major city in the midwest has casinos that are located much closer than Shelbyville or Anderson is to Indy. Tell me- if I am attending a convention here- what entertainment is there in downtown Indianapolis?? And why was money wasted on a study with obvious conclusions! Richard L is 100% correct.
If casinos bring down the vibe of the area and makes downtown less attractive, Indianapolis will be less attractive to conventions. In my experience downtown casinos are negatives. If anyone has experience that contradicts mine, from a city that made a casino a centerpiece of downtown redevelopment and it has made the area better than it was, I’m all for hearing it.
If the state of Indiana is going to move ahead with this, that they need the additional revenue so badly as to drop this into downtown Indianapolis, I would sure want to be 100% positive that the big conventions we bring into Indianapolis are OK with it and it won’t be seen as a reason to move their business somewhere else.
If it was me and no wasn’t an option? I’d put the casino on the on the former Eleven Park site downtown. It’s isolated enough yet close enough to downtown.
Finally, I’m not the least bit surprised that a study funded by a casino group would come to the conclusions that this one did. Are you surprised that the studies funded by cigarette companies didn’t see a correlation between smoking and lung cancer?
Casinos are designed to suck people in to an enclosed space where they loose all track of time. They are disconnected from the street on purpose. They generate very little spillover business in the immediate vicinity because they are designed to be completely self contained.
Look at the casino on I-74 and Fairview road. In the years since it’s been built, NOTHING has been developed around it.
Putting a casino in the heart of the Indiana’s economic engine would almost certainly generate a lot more income for the casino operator and taxes for the state, but Joe is right, they are a suck on the neighborhood.
Many of the big conventions are religious or kids (FFA). Casino would be a negative for them.
Joe B, downtown Cleveland is really nice and the Jack Casino is right in the heart of it. And, per the article, the study was done pursuant to legislation, not by the license owner. Of course, I do agree that a study wasn’t really necessary to tell us that the two most populated cities would generate the most revenue.
Robert – thank you for that perspective, as I’ve not been to Cleveland in some time. (Related note: the TripAdvisor reviews for the place are not reassuring, as it sounds like they are struggling with downtown issues.)
Like another poster, I have significant experience with downtown Detroit and St. Louis. I find the area around both downtown casinos to be rather sketchy. And as Dan mentioned, casinos don’t exactly encourage you to come and go and visit the surrounding area.
https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g50207-d3177308-Reviews-JACK_Cleveland_Casino-Cleveland_Ohio.html
I agree with Richard! Union Station is PERFECT!!!!
Union Station deserves a far better use than to be a home for chainsmokers to gamble their retirements away. Hard no.
Go tour a city with a downtown casino like St. Louis or Detroit. Bad idea.
Yeah, I went to Detroit and was in the Greektown area. Downtown Detroit is fun but the area around the casino SUCKED. It just draws in all kinds of unwanted activity and it has placed a greater burden on their local law enforcement.
I asked AI, give me a list of highly rated downtown casinos. Here’s the list of cities it gave me:
Las Vegas, Nevada
Reno, Nevada
Atlantic City, New Jersey
Detroit, Michigan
Evansville, Indiana
New Orleans, Louisiana
Cincinnati, Ohio
St. Louis, Missouri
East Chicago, Indiana
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
I don’t see a city on that list that Indianapolis should be aspiring to model themselves after. I haven’t been to the Cincinnati casino but I can attest that downtown Cincinnati has been dead for decades and their efforts to reverse that … are in very, very early days. (But, hey, they did implement a free streetcar to get around, so they’ve got that going for them.)
As you point out, it would be very ironic for the state legislators who complain about crime in Indianapolis to introduce such a resource-intensive attraction in downtown Indianapolis like a casino.
Joe, you hold Indianapolis in far too high regard if you think there aren’t things in Cincinnati or Pittsburgh that we should be replicating.
Murray, how about listing them and actually making a point around here with some substance for once?
And to the point of the article and discussion, how has a downtown casino made downtown Cincinnati better?
Caesars is already suffering hard at Horseshoe Hammond. Between Hard Rock opening in Gary, and a couple new casinos just across the border in the South Chicago suburbs, Hammond’s annual revenue went from $383 mil in Fiscal Year Ending June 2021 to $250 mil FY End June 2025. No way a Downtown Casino doesn’t cause Caesars’ properties in Anderson and Shelbyville, to take a hit. Especially Shelbyville. I am sure they will lobby hard against downtown Indy.
The last thing Indianapolis needs is a casino.
IND did the riverboat thing, did the state border thing and now the analysis concludes the biggest draw is to add a casino (or two) in the most populous places. Well, DUH!
Hard no. Casinos should have never happened in this state in the first place.
Gambling is a voluntary tax paid mostly by people that can’t afford to pay it. Do this and do away with a tax I must pay.
Here is an idea; the Capitol Improvement Board runs a casino in Union Station and let the revenue pay for all of the stadiums and stuff we are paying for.
how about casino tax revenue in Marion County goes to Marion County infrastructure?
100% AGAINST a casino in downtown Indianapolis.
A downtown casino could be a positive for the downtown, so much vacant space downtown between the mall and Union Station.
The mall is an incredible space with the glass arcade, utilizing that space in-lieu of tearing portions down would be excellent. Casinos bring retail which is also needed downtown. Bringing more people downtown can help revitalize the city. Generated funds could help maintain and upgrade the downtown infrastructure which is in need. Roads and sidewalks are in horrible condition downtown.
The mall has other plans and a casino isn’t one of them.
Casinos are designed to suck people in to an enclosed space where they loose all track of time. They are disconnected from the street on purpose. They generate very little spillover business in the immediate vicinity because they are designed to be completely self contained.
Look at the casino on I-74 and Fairview road. In the years since it’s been built, NOTHING has been developed around it.
Putting a casino in the heart of the Indiana’s economic engine would almost certainly generate a lot more income for the casino operator and taxes for the state and nothing for Indianapolis, unless you count the cost of extra policing a casino might generate. They are a suck on the neighborhood.
Union Station.ditto.
Are those wanting a casino Downtown also the people who complain about crime, homelessness, etc.? We already have off-track betting Downtown — and it doesn’t seem to improve the immediate surroundings.
No.