The following commentary originally appeared in the April 1, 2005, edition of the Indianapolis Star. That version can be viewed online at http://www.indystar.com/articles/8/233498-2648-021.html

The week that more Americans gamble than any other each year is the one when we all fill out our brackets for the NCAA men's basketball tournament. That's the week I found myself on a slow road trip back East, passing through red states and blue, picking up local news on the radio and local newspapers at the truck stops.

Whatever the cultural or values differences in the red/blue dichotomy, one thing they all have in common is a political addiction to gambling. It doesn't matter who is in the saddle, Republicans or Democrats, legalized gambling has become a painless revenue stream that enables politicians to meet their budgets without raising taxes. Only eight states raised taxes in 2004; 30 considered gambling proposals. Among the ideas were ones to put slots on ferryboats and in bowling alleys. Long ago, Louisiana legalized video poker for truck stops.

Last year, after a long battle, Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell finally got his proposal for 61,000 slots approved for racetracks and casinos. As other states have done with the lottery, he tied it to education, selling his "Slots for tots." But the revenue doesn't come without problems. Even before the casino in Erie, Pa., opened, the mayor was indicted on charges that he pressured casino operators to build on his land.

West Virginia is home to "racinos," where slots and video poker are added to horse and dog tracks. I am reminded that this is where the Justice Department made a large haul of corrupt politicians involved with the gambling industry. Working with the state police and tax authorities, federal prosecutor Joe Savage bagged two state Senate presidents, the majority leader of the House and Gov. Arch Moore. The lottery director also was nailed for electronically rigging the game he was supposed to manage.

In Maryland, the next state on my travels, Republican Gov. Bob Erlich is in a fever to get slots legalized. Erlich says his constituents have demonstrated that they want to gamble: "For too long Marylanders have paid for teachers and textbooks in West Virginia, New Jersey and Delaware."

It is often the case that politicians see their potential tax dollars drifting across the border to casinos and riverboats strategically placed to attract players from other states. Former Gov. Edwin Edwards walked through the parking lots of the casinos along Mississippi's gulf coast and counted the Louisiana license plates. Under pressure to support a riverboat in the Boston harbor, Mayor Tom Menino did the same thing at the Indian casinos in Connecticut.

In Delaware, where they are considering riverboats, the Republican House majority leader told The New York Times, "Gambling revenues are like free money." But it is not entirely free. The state's human services division estimates that 17 percent of Delaware's residents are at risk of developing a gambling addiction, with the percentage of elderly much higher.

The first state after Nevada to get hooked on gambling was New Jersey, with its Atlantic City casinos. The poster boy for New Jersey gambling on the week of my trip is Michael Sandberg, a Princeton senior, who plays online and has won $120,000 at poker. Sandberg is thinking of making a career of poker. He ranks in the bottom fifth of his class and says he doesn't think he can make as much money doing anything else -- even with a Princeton degree.

Back home in Indiana. With our riverboats, we now rank fourth in the country in terms of casino tax revenue. But, as we know from this year's legislative session, there is an appetite for more. As in other places, the question is where to put them.

It is a stone-cold fact that racinos have bailed out the thoroughbred horse and racing industries in a number of states. At a recent visit to the horse track in Charlestown, W.Va., I found few customers outside actually watching the horses run, but hundreds bellied up to the slots indoors. If you can marry horseracing to video poker and slot machines, why not pro football?

We need a stadium for the Colts and need to figure out how to pay for it. My modest proposal is that we build a go-to-hell stadium guaranteed to bring the Super Bowl to Indy and pay for it with a world-class casino in the basement. The Colts only use the place a few afternoons a year, but the casino could run 24/7 every day but Sunday. No slots on the Sabbath.