Casinos Indiana

Pinnacle Entertainment Inc. is a casino operator headquartered on Brand Boulevard in Glendale, but its future is riding on 315 acres along the Ohio River in the southern tip of Indiana. That's the site of Pinnacle's new flagship property called Belterra Casino Resort, a $200-million hotel-casino.

Pinnacle Entertainment Inc. is a casino operator headquartered on Brand Boulevard in Glendale, but its future is riding on 315 acres along the Ohio River in the southern tip of Indiana. That's the site of Pinnacle's new flagship property called Belterra Casino Resort, a $200-million hotel-casino.

Harrah's Entertainment Inc., Mandalay Resort Group, Argosy Gaming and other casino giants tumbled Monday after the Illinois General Assembly passed and sent to the governor a proposal to raise taxes on riverboat casinos. A Standard & Poor's index of gaming stocks slumped nearly 6%, the biggest one-day loss since it fell 15.6% on Sept. 17, when U.S. markets reopened after the terrorist attacks.

Talk about moral confusion. In Los Angeles last week, Bob Dole derided Hollywood and President Clinton for not banging the gong more loudly against drug abuse. The president, Dole declared, had demonstrated "moral confusion" when he made light on MTV four years ago of his youthful experimentation with marijuana, rather than urging his listeners not to light up themselves. Fair enough. But what about Dole's own moral confusion?

Stock Exchange gives readers a chance to listen in as Times staff writers James Peltz and Michael Hiltzik debate the merits of individual stocks and other investments. Eastman Kodak (EK) Mike: We start today with a grand old name of American industrial might. Jim: Emphasis on "old," Mike. Kodak is still among the planet's most recognized brands, and its stock is one of the famed Dow Jones industrials. But in the 1990s, something went very wrong with this venerable company. Mike: Boy, did it.

For a man with a gambling problem, Russell Roberts had what seemed like the perfect job. He worked as the campaign treasurer for Rep. John A. Boehner (R-Ohio), which gave him access to lots of money. From 1994 until he was caught last year, Roberts embezzled $617,563, wiring money directly from the congressman's campaign office to riverboat casinos in Indiana. Lydia Percival Meuret, a Texas mother of three, was afraid to tell her husband she had racked up too much credit card debt.

Stung by growing concerns over the social ills accompanying gambling's march across America, the industry is waging a multimillion-dollar campaign to discredit critics and blunt the work of a national commission exploring the human cost of legalized wagering. The carefully crafted effort--backed by the Mirage, Harrah's, Hilton and MGM Grand casinos and other powerful Las Vegas interests--is intended to fend off new federal regulation and taxation of the $50-billion-a-year gambling industry.