A bill to help pay for $100 million in improvements at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway passed the House on Monday—but only on its second try, as some lawmakers expressed frustration about tapping horse racing money for the projects.
Indiana's riverboat casino revenues fell 4.4 percent in March, dragged down by declines at two southeastern Indiana venues that faced their first month of head-to-head competition with a Cincinnati casino.
The move—debated Monday in the Indiana House Ways and Means Committee—is meant to subsidize upgrades at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and make low-interest loans available to other auto tracks and businesses across the state.
Horseshoe Casino Cincinnati, which is expected to lure some gambling revenue from Indiana’s casinos, opened March 4.
Gaming Commission Executive Director Ernest Yelton said declining casino revenue and other factors are helping drive the push for land-based casinos.
The differences between the electronic and standard table games are being portrayed to state lawmakers as one of life and death, with proponents of a bill that would allow racetrack table games saying they would add jobs while not substantially changing what the racetracks already offer.
The private operator of the Hoosier Lottery is expanding the hours that convenience stores and other outlets can sell lottery tickets, a change that allows those sales to continue late into the night.
Gambling revenue for 2012 was down more than $110 million from 2010, and year-over-year revenue has tumbled in three consecutive years.
The Indiana House Ways and Means Committee postponed amendments and a vote on a gambling measures Wednesday after supporters of the state’s horse-track casinos renewed their fight to get live dealers at their table games.
The private operator of the Hoosier Lottery faces a $20 million penalty in Illinois because it fell nearly $66 million short of the profits it promised that state.
An Indiana House committee has rewritten a gambling bill to keep table games out of Indiana's racetracks and restore money for counties that host casinos.
The gambling industry spent more than $19 million lobbying at the Indiana Statehouse from 2000-2012, according to reports filed online by the Indiana Lobby Registration Commission.
Indiana Gov. Mike Pence is asking lawmakers not to approve an expansion of gambling despite pressure from new casinos in bordering states.
With a glistening $400 million casino set to open in downtown Cincinnati on Monday, officials and casino executives in two neighboring states are looking at the development with trepidation as they prepare to watch tax dollars flow into Ohio.
Seven of the winner’s co-workers at an Indianapolis salon say the $9.5 million ticket for the Feb. 16 drawing was part of an office lottery pool.
Seven hairstylists who are fighting for a share of a $9.5 million lottery prize bought by a co-worker testified Wednesday that they had all agreed to share any winnings from tickets purchased at the same time as those for an office pool.
A major overhaul of Indiana casino regulations and taxes has cleared the state Senate amid arguments from its supporters that the casinos need help against growing competition from surrounding states.
The owner of the Hoosier Park racino in Anderson says it has officially purchased the bankrupt Indiana Grand and Downs in Shelbyville for $500 million.
The leader of the Indiana House is hesitant about the chances of an overhaul of state casino taxes and regulations aimed at helping them against growing competition from surrounding states.
The change would save the state $24 million in 2015 and another $48 million each year thereafter—all money that’s now being collected from gambling taxes and sent to cities, towns and counties.
