Clear signs emerged in 2009 that the Hoosier gambling market is oversaturated.
Major credit rating agencies expressed concerns that several casinos, including the state’s new horse track “racinos”
on the outskirts of Indianapolis, might go bust before the year was finished.
The Indiana General Assembly is taking its first steps toward restructuring Hoosier gambling law.
State lawmakers are weighing possible changes to state gambling laws at a time when growing competition from out-of-state
casinos threatens to cut into business at Indiana’s 11 riverboat casinos.
The Gaming Study Committee’s report said allowing riverboat casinos to relocate inland could be helpful.
Majestic Star Casino LLC owns two casinos and a hotel in Gary, a casino-hotel in Tunica County, Miss., and a casino in Black
Hawk, Colo.
The company that owns two casinos along Indiana’s Lake Michigan shore has been declared in default on nearly $80 million in
debt by its lenders.
Ohio voters hit hard by the economic downturn have approved casinos on the fifth try by gambling supporters in the past two
decades.
Ohio voters are poised to weigh in on a ballot question that would authorize casinos in Cincinnati, Cleveland, Columbus and
Toledo.
Indianapolis-based Centaur LLC, owner of Anderson’s Hoosier Park horse track and casino, missed a $13.4 million interest payment due Tuesday on its more than $400 million in outstanding debt, putting the company in default with its lenders.
A gambler who counts cards is asking the Indiana Court of Appeals to force an Ohio River casino to allow him to play blackjack.
Despite rampant speculation, Anderson’s Hoosier Park is not facing imminent bankruptcy, according to its owner, locally
based Centaur Inc.
Indiana casinos on average pay the highest effective tax rate in the Midwest, according to a report by the Casino Association
of Indiana.
Purses at Hoosier Park in Anderson and Indiana Downs in Shelbyville have swollen since the two tracks added slot machines
in June 2008.
Indiana’s casinos are facing increasing competition from gambling ventures in Michigan and Ohio that could pose a threat to
the $900 million in tax revenue the industry generates for the state.
Fort Wayne’s mayor said he still thinks residents should be able to vote on whether they want the city to have a casino despite
the opposition of other local leaders.
Officials with casinos at Indiana’s two pari-mutuel horse racing tracks told lawmakers today that taxes imposed on them are
too high and are threatening their viability.
Indiana’s share of tax money generated by the state’s 13 casinos is expected to remain relatively flat for at
least the next few years, a state fiscal analyst told Gaming Study Committee members this morning.
Indiana has made billions on gambling in nearly two decades, funding key programs, cutting excise and property taxes, and
avoiding tax hikes. The state has seen more than $2 billion in investment without any government incentives,
and more dollars committed in our history than by any industry outside of steel, power and autos.
In a saturated gambling market, Indiana casinos increasingly rely on expanded entertainment options to
attract patrons. The upshot is that an industry once considered “recession-proof” is asking
the General Assembly for lower taxes and hopes to eliminate expensive regulatory requirements like maintaining engines
and crews.
