An Indiana lawmaker wants to protect the Hoosier State’s casino industry, which was the nation’s third-largest commercial gaming market by revenue in 2011.

Ten of Indiana’s 13 casinos are in counties adjacent to Illinois, Michigan and Ohio – states that have provided Indiana casinos with a wealth of customers.

Not anymore.

Those patrons no longer have to cross state lines to satisfy their gambling fix. Over the past 24 months, casino expansion in neighboring states has caused Indiana gaming revenues to decline.

In 2011, Indiana’s 13 casinos collected $2.721 billion in gaming revenues, a 2.5 percent drop from 2010. In October, gaming revenues statewide suffered their largest percentage decrease since January 2008.

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Meanwhile, Tom is currently playing in the main event of the WSOP-Circuit event at Caesar’s Indiana, where he has made yet another final table. He enters into tomorrow’s action as a short stack, so he’s got some of work to do and might need a little luck early on. (With blinds at 2000/4000 +500, he’s got 45,000 chips.) Click here to follow the action, which gets underway Friday at 2 pm.

Beyond competing for the $223,000 first-prize payout, Tom is trying to stay alive in the overall Player of the Year race as the 2007 poker “season” comes into the homestretch. His placement in the CardPlayer rankings certainly stands out, and in fact looks similar to his situation at tomorrow’s final table, which will be Tom’s fifth of the year:

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