Ind. may lose millions to Ohio casinos

Voters in Ohio approved casino gambling in Tuesday's election and that's bad news for Indiana taxpayers.

Ohio voters gave the OK to four new casinos. One of them will be built in downtown Cincinnati. (The others will be in Cleveland, Columbus, and Toledo.)

It will take business away from three Indiana riverboats that are nearby in Lawrenceburg, Rising Sun, and Florence.

State Representative Bob Bischoff (D-Lawrenceburg) has those three Indiana casinos in his district and also has a new concern.

"Anytime you saturate the area it's going to take away some of the players that patronized your riverboats," said Bischoff.

The threat of competition from Ohio prompted Hollywood Casino in Lawrenceburg to renovate earlier this year, but a new casino in the neighborhood will still hurt.

"I think it will have a significant impact," said Mike Smith of the Indiana Casino Association. "The studies have shown somewhere around $260 million, $270 million in gross gaming revenue (annually,) potentially."

That translates to a reduction in state revenues from gaming taxes of from $82 million to $102 million a year said Ernest Yelton.

The executive director of the state gaming commission says that's just the start.

"I don't think it would lead to a closing, but it's very likely there would be a reduction of staff," said Yelton.

State Representative David Cheatham (D-North Vernon) said other businesses will suffer, too.

"The domino effect, of course, would be that if there's less revenue coming into the casinos there will be less people working," said Cheatham.

The good news is that it will likely take two years before a casino is up and running as a result of Tuesday's vote.