A new casino is set to open in Terre Haute this spring. It will be the fourteenth in the state.
Adam Scavette, a regional economist for the federal reserve bank of Richmond, studies the economic impact of casinos. He said casinos support economic development like increased local retail sales, tax revenue, and increased employment. But those benefits are curbed by the presence of other nearby casinos and depend largely on the conditions of the local economy.
Because of that, he said a monopoly in an area isn’t necessarily a bad thing.
“So in Indiana they wouldn’t have a statewide monopoly, but maybe they would have a county monopoly on gambling.”