Indiana’s Race Tracks Ring in 2020 with Long-Coveted Table Games

Indiana’s two major horse race tracks are set to ring in 2020 with long-coveted live-dealer table games as part of a wider gambling expansion campaign authorized by Gov. Eric Holcomb this past May.

Both Harrah’s Hoosier Park in Anderson and Indiana Grand Racing and Casino in Shelbyville are set to launch their first live table games today, January 1, at 1 pm local time. The two properties are operated by Las Vegas casino giant Caesars Entertainment Corp.

Under a legislation that passed the Indiana General Assembly in 2015, the two racinos were allowed to add live-dealer table games to their existing offering in mid-2021. The comprehensive gambling expansion bill that Gov. Holcomb signed in the spring of 2019 authorized the two central Indiana race tracks to introduce table games 18 months earlier.

Until today, the two properties were only permitted to offer slot machines and electronic table games. The addition of table games run by actual dealers basically allows Hoosier Park and Indiana Grand to operate in the same manner as Indiana’s 11 full-fledged casinos.

The two properties secured the final permits required for the start of table game operations from the Indiana Gaming Commission in mid-December.

Aside from the addition of live-dealer table games at Indiana’s major horse race tracks, the gambling expansion bill signed by the state’s top official also authorized retail and mobile sports betting and the construction of new casinos in Gary and Terre Haute.

The New Offering

Indiana Grand has added more than 40 tables with 304 seats to its existing offering. As from today, the property will offer craps, roulette, blackjack, Mississippi stud, mini-baccarat, and three-card poker.

Hoosier Park will have 28 tables with 179 seats. Games at the property will include craps, roulette, blackjack, Mississippi stud, EZ baccarat, and three-card poker.

The two racinos are expected to soon expand their table game sections. Dan Nita, Regional President for Caesars, told media that both Hoosier Park and Indiana Grand will “very quickly be able to demonstrate that the market can support two or three times as many table games as we’re currently set up with.”

According to initial projections, the new table games will boost annual state gambling tax revenue by $12 million. That would mean that the state could this year see a 3% increase in the $443 million received from casinos in the 2019 budget year.

The state budget will also see a boost from the legalization and taxation of sports betting. First legal sports betting operations went live in Indiana in early September. The state has received just under $2.8 million in taxes from licensed providers of wagering services since then. Betting operators are taxed at 9.5% on their revenues.

Source: Live dealer games starting at 2 casinos in central Indiana

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