Senator files bill that would make way for $750M Indianapolis casino

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8 Comments

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  1. This is such a mistake for Downtown Indianapolis. Casinos are “inward” and don’t encourage growth outside of the building. It does bring more than an element of sketchiness that is not needed. I just don’t understand why those who publicly call for being tough on crime are in favor — even pushing this — of this thing.

    1. GB, Freeman doesn’t like downtown Indianapolis. That’s generally the point behind all his legislation.

  2. Gambling is fun for people of means who can handle the inevitable losses…….but gambling, like the lottery, also sucks the life out of poor and working class people who cannot afford the inevitable losses. If the state truly needs more revenue, man up and raise taxes, don’t hide behind revenue generated from things that hurt the very people you claim you need the revenue to help. Maybe the answer is to means test entry to the casino, so that only people with money to lose are allowed inside to lose money.

    1. Valid points regarding concerns about people that can’t afford it but don’t know any better.
      Many of them also probably smoke and drink and have unhealthy diets. All of these are legal, can we police bad habits?
      If any tourists/conventioneers want to leave their dollars and have some fun, so what?

  3. A downtown casino would be a plus. There is not much else for conventioneers to do in the evening in downtown Indy. Many would consider a casino an added attraction. Our downtown looks dead on most evenings.

    1. I seriously doubt you’re from Indy if you’re saying most evenings are dead DT. So am I to dismiss the backed up traffic up and down Mass Ave and Fountain sq, Virginia Ave? What about the Bottle Work District and if you ride around monument circle you’ll see tons of people all around DT. Up and down Pennsylvania st and Georgia st. Up Illinois by the new Toms watch sports bar and Clayton’s Bar are packed full. I bet you go this evening DT will be packed with fans watching IU vs Oregon in the Peach Bowl

    2. Paul, I’ve said this before … go look at Detroit and St. Louis and the area around their downtown casinos. Both are beyond sketchy. It’s not a slam dunk that a downtown casino in Union Station leaves the area better than it currently is.

      Heck, go look outside the downtown OTB site. You want a larger version of that downtown?

      I also don’t see how a downtown casino helps us with the religious conventions or the FFA or GenCon. Conventions that want casinos for their attendees already have Detroit or St. Louis or Las Vegas to choose from. They’re choosing Indianapolis over towns like these for a reason, so we should be more like them?

      Visit Indy offered a very weak statement of support for a downtown casino. Here’s their quotes from a recent article:

      “We know that for some groups, it will be a motivator,” Gahl said. “For some groups it will be neutral, and for some groups that could potentially be seen as a negative. Yet overall, our executive committee believes we’re in a place in our city’s history, that the timing is right.”

      “We left the discussion with affirmation that we should advocate for a casino in downtown Indy,” he said. “We also left the discussion making sure that Visit Indy will do continued due diligence with both existing customers and prospective customers on their feelings and attitudes toward a downtown casino.”

      https://www.ibj.com/articles/visit-indy-leadership-backs-downtown-casino-push

      If this thing has to be dumped downtown, put it at Eleven Park and let the Citizens Gas plant and railroad tracks be the buffer.

    3. In the dead of winter, it is true that it looks “dead.” People tend to go indoors when it is cold. It hardly looks dead in the sitting and summer.

    4. In the dead of winter, it is true that it looks “dead.” People tend to go indoors when it is cold. It hardly looks dead in the sitting and summer.

    5. In the dead of winter, it is true that it looks “dead.” People tend to go indoors when it is cold. It hardly looks dead in the sitting and summer.

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