Gambling opponents hope for a return to quieter days, but proponents lament the jobs and potential taxes going elsewhere. In a three-day series, The Dispatch explores the mounting pressures on Ohio to expand legal gambling. The Grand Victoria sits at a dock on the Ohio River in Indiana.
Passengers write their initials on a dollar bill and put it into the bag.
The owner of the chosen one claims the cash. The folks making this trip are among the thousands of Ohioans who travel on bus excursions each year to Indiana riverboat casinos or to land-based gambling houses in Michigan and Ontario. He estimates that his bus company takes 80,000 travelers annually on casino trips. The odds represent the percentages of defeat built into a game. The inducements work.