While Ohio has approved of four of its casinos, Indiana’s casino expansion has raised economic questions regarding  Indiana families. President of the Indiana Family Institute, Curt Smith, worries that people will become more financially unstable and addicted to gambling.

Lawmakers in Indiana are considering expanding gambling in the state to keep up with neighboring states.

Ohio voters recently approved four new casinos in their state. There is also consideration of a casino in Chicago.

Indiana gambling proponents want to change the state’s laws to bring casinos to dry land. Currently, only riverboat casinos are allowed.

Curt Smith, president of the Indiana Family Institute, said his state is third in gambling dependence. The only two states that rely more heavily on the vice for tax revenues are Nevada and New Jersey.

Smith explained that more gambling will mean more problems.

“If gambling is expanded in Indiana,” he said, “more families are going to be under economic stress, more people are going to be ensnared into addiction of a quick fix to their financial problems and more social ills will be compounded by this blight on our state.”

This article appears as it was reported on citizenlink.com

Posted December 18th, 2009 under Gaming News. Tags: Chicago, Curt Smith, Indiana Family Institute, Lawmakers, Riverboat, Tax revenues
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