Q: How come Indiana has casinos all over the state except in Marion County?
A: We lack one for pretty much the same reason we don’t have a Major League Baseball team. Close-by MLB clubs, such as the Cincinnati Reds, fear an Indiana franchise would cannibalize their fan base, so they oppose every initiative to create one. It’s the same deal with casinos. We already have 13 scattered around the state so they (in theory) don’t compete with each other. A snazzy, centrally located operation in Naptown would likely devastate attendance at those existing gambling dens. The extremely well-heeled companies that run most Hoosier casinos (and the politicians representing districts that could be hurt if Indianapolis joins the game) don’t want that to happen. That means, barring a miracle, the only nominally “Indy” establishment will remain the one in Shelbyville, which has the gall to call itself the Horseshoe Indianapolis Casino.
