Indiana casinos were ordered to close on March 16 due to the Covid-19 pandemic. As a result, according to the Indiana Gaming Commission, gambling revenue plummeted 52 percent to $98 million in March, down from $196 million in February. State tax revenue plunged from $60.2 million in February to $29 million in March. A year ago, pre-sports betting, the state received $67.9 million in gambling tax revenue.
Sports betting has continued but with few events to bet on, that revenue also has dropped. Indiana sportsbooks reported adjusted gross revenue of $5.5 million–the lowest total since Indiana legalized sports betting last September.
As the casino shutdowns continue, the mayors of Lake County casino host cities in Northwest Indiana said the loss of a single month of gambling revenue won’t bust their budgets—but not knowing how long the closures will last plus soaring unemployment is alarming. According to state records, last year the city of Hammond collected $33.5 million, East Chicago took in $17.3 million and Gary received $6 million.
In East Chicago, home of Ameristar Casino, Mayor Anthony Copeland said, “I pray on bended knee that the industry will come back. But I’m far from foolish. I know that if they cranked up tomorrow, it still would take months and months before people that have been affected across the nation who go to these properties will have disposable income. So this is going to be more than a minute, and I realize that.”
Copeland noted East Chicago has a $24 million general fund reserve and mainly uses gaming revenue to leverage additional state or federal money for infrastructure projects. “We have been able to make great strides. If the city of East Chicago continues to be frugal, not stingy, then we’ll be able to get over this crisis,” Copeland said.
He added he agreed to allow Ameristar to postpone its monthly payment to the city so the casino could meet its payroll. “Either I can eat the goose and have one glorious meal or I can keep feeding it and hope it lays another golden egg. I think the city of East Chicago will weather the storm,” Copeland said.
In Hammond, as soon as Horseshoe Casino closed, Mayor Thomas McDermott Jr. issued an executive order stopping all spending on new infrastructure projects funded by gaming revenue. “We had a number of projects that were heading through the chute, and we put them on hold. The only projects that are going forward are the ones that we already appropriated. If we lose one year because of this epidemic then we lose one year. But we’ve got to make sure our budget doesn’t get destroyed. We’re being very cautious with our gaming revenue. Right now, I haven’t furloughed or laid any of our employees off, and I’m hoping I don’t have to do that,” McDermott said.
Gary Mayor Jerome Prince, who took office in January, said he’s reviewing all city spending and sources of revenue including Majestic Star casinos. “My finances were strained anyway. So I’m not quite sure what the future is going to look like in terms of manpower. We’re certainly going to realize areas where we can create more efficiencies,” Prince said.
The lakefront tourist area of Michigan City, in LaPorte County, receives about half of its budget from Blue Chip Casino revenue. Mayor Duane Parry said the city has sufficient cash reserves for the short-term, but meanwhile he has imposed a hiring freeze and banned purchases of more than $1,000 without his written approval.
The Hoosier Lottery also is making adjustments to its top in-state draw game, in response to the Covid-19 virus. At the moment, if no one picks the six numbers needed to win the $1.1 million Hoosier Lotto jackpot, the prize only increase by $100,000 for the next drawing, instead of rising by $200,000 to $300,000 per rollover. Hoosier Lotto Executive Director Sarah Taylor explained, “Hoosier Lotto is Indiana’s hometown jackpot game and it is important to preserve the game for our players, retailers and beneficiaries.”
Similar reductions also have been made in post-rollover jackpot increases for the Powerball and Mega Millions multistate draw games.
