know when to walk away

From the courier-journal --

Addicted to gambling revenue

For years, proponents of the never-ending expansion of gambling contended that it was a fantastic hedge for states against economic downturns because the various branches of the industry, from casinos to lotteries, were considered to be immune from the effects of a recession.


The current economic slump has proven the fallacy of that argument. Nowhere is that more evident than in Indiana.

The Hoosier Lottery's profit from ticket sales dropped 17.5 percent in fiscal year 2009, the largest decline of any state in the nation. Revenue tanked despite a heavy marketing campaign, the addition of new games, and the state hawking tickets that cost as much as $30 a pop.

Indiana's lottery is far from the only gambling outlet that's hurting. Two racinos are begging for lucrative tax breaks a little more than a year after opening. The owners lament that the market isn't as strong as they originally thought. And wagering and admission tax revenues have tumbled at the state's 11 riverboat casinos.

Indiana isn't the only state suddenly losing its bet on pumping up revenue through gambling. The 12 states that push casinos on their residents and visitors suffered an 8.5 percent drop in revenue from those operations from 2008 to this year, according to a study by the Rockefeller Institute.

“States cannot depend on gambling revenue,'' Lucy Dadayan, a senior analyst with the institute, told The Indianapolis Star's Mary Beth Schneider, “because it is not likely to keep pace with long-term budgetary needs and spending growth.''

Leaders in Indiana, one of the most gambling-dependent states in the nation, should be especially alert to that warning.

Statehouse powerbrokers for years viewed gambling as a painless way to generate more tax revenue. But with the market saturated and revenue evaporating, the shortsightedness of that position has been painfully exposed.

The state can now turn in one of two directions. It can begin to wean itself from a heavy dependency on gambling. Or, like a desperate addict doubling down on a losing hand, the state can toss out more favors to casino operators and churn out even more enticements for Hoosiers to throw away their money on lottery tickets.

The most important skill for a gambler is to know when to walk away.