"A surprising fact: Gamblers spent more last year at commercial casinos in Indiana than they did at non-Indian casinos in all but three other states — not surprisingly, Nevada, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. The 11 casinos and two racinos (horse racing tracks with slots) are the Hoosier State's third-largest source of tax revenues.

Clearly, the idea that gambling is sinful has vanished in much of the heartland — Iowa has 18 casinos — and increasingly on the coasts. Or let's just say that the immorality attached to the activity and to preying on the working class, lonely elders and other vulnerable groups that flock to casinos has faded before the god of lower taxes. But that easy-come of living off gamblers seems to be vanishing as nearby states get in on the action.

Indiana has relied on attracting players from neighboring Kentucky and Ohio. Kentucky still doesn't allow casinos, but Ohio has succumbed. The Horseshoe Casino in Cleveland just opened, the Hollywood Toledo is about to debut, and the Horseshoe Casino Cincinnati is a mere year away.

Like Indiana, Ohio sits just over the river from Kentucky and will be competing for its gamblers. As result, Indiana expects to lose about $100 million of the $800 million it had been collecting in gambling tax revenue."

Get the Story:
Froma Harrop: We have become the United States of gambling (The Las Cruces Sun-News 5/23)