Quote:
Originally Posted by Busy Bee
That is highly unlikely. Just like added highway lanes only increases traffic, added casinos increases access to and temptation to gamble. But it's for the schools, right?
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Gamblers are already flocking to casinos. I can go to Chinatown and get on any one of 5 free shuttle buses to casinos in Indiana or Four Winds in Michigan. Four Winds even gives you $5 in free gambling money just for ridding the bus. I've been to Horseshoe in Hammond about 4 times, and each time I noticed that at least 90% of license plates in the packed parking garage are from Illinois. I remember one particular Saturday night when a friend and I only found open parking spaces on the roof level of the garage and I counted only 11 license plates that weren't labeled Illinois. This is out of 7 levels of parking in a garage with enormous floor plates.
The concern of it siphoning money away from poor city residents is flawed, because that money is already going to the casinos in the burbs and in Indiana. The one major difference a downtown casino has, is that it will capture money from foreign tourists and business travelers who won't venture into Indiana.
I still believe the post office is the best location: huge floorplates, plenty of room for internal parking, easy highway and transit access, riverfront property for restaurants and/or entertainment venues and plenty of additional floor space for a hotel.