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Opening Arguments

Third and trying harder

Well, ain't we special?

Mississippi, which has built much of its marketing for more than a decade around being the third largest gaming destination in the country, lost that title in 2009 to Indiana.

The state slipped to fourth place in terms of adjusted gross revenues from commercial gaming. In 2009, Mississippi reported $2.46 billion to Indiana's $2.58 billion.

[. . .]

Indiana's reign may not last more than a year — it faces new competition from Ohio and possibly Kentucky — but industry watchers think other states, particularly Pennsylvania, may be poised to move up in the rankings.

Nevada and New Jersey continued to hold the top spots in 2009, reporting $9.76 billion and $3.9 billion respectively. However, even their long-entrenched dominance, may be on shaky ground.

"What we're seeing is a changing of the guard now," said David Schwartz, director of the Center for Gaming Research in Las Vegas.

For about the last 10 to 15 years, there has been the Nevada, New Jersey, Mississippi hierarchy, Schwartz said. However, as the economy has gotten worse, more states have turned to gaming to fill budget gaps. The proliferation of casinos has affected the dominance of the old guard.

"People are gambling less, but they're doing it in more places," Schwartz said. "So that's why places like Las Vegas, Atlantic City and Mississippi have really been hit hard."

Note that "gambling less in more places" observation. The market is saturated, and it's only going to get worse. And still, Fort Wayne Mayor Tom Henry won't give up his quixotic quest to get a casino referendum on the local ballot. He's spent $90,000 lobbying the legislature, which has said no, loudly and clearly, two years in a row. This is beyond stubborn, way into stupid.

One interesting remark in the rankings story was the belief of a Mississippi legislator that Indiana jumped in the rankings partly because of "outside factors affecting their competition, particularly a statewide smoking ban in Illinois." This year's annual attempt to get a statewide smoking ban for Indiana failed in part because some legislators were upset with the exemptions proposed for casinos and because some legislators used those exemptions to propose exemptions for lots of other places.

Vice begets vice, doesn't it?

Comments

Sue
Thu, 03/18/2010 - 1:38pm

Might be interesting to watch Fla. The state is talking with the Seminole Indian tribe which has a lock on gambling now. Last year they bought out Hard Rock and it didn't take long to introduce Vegas style gambling. If things work out there will be more than sun and beaches to come to Florida for.

littlejohn
Fri, 03/19/2010 - 9:07am

Gaming is a regressive tax in the sense that it clearly a tax on the stupid. The house, be it a casino or the state, always wins in the long run.
I don't think gambling should be illegal, I just think it's stupid.

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