During the first month that the new Hoosier Park Casino was open, gamblers sank $189 million into slot machines, according to statistics released this month by the Indiana Gaming Commission.

More than 200,000 people visited the casino and adjoining horse track during June.

Concerns about social ills and addictions to gambling always accompany casinos. The financial and emotional toll of such problems can be steep for individuals, families, employers and a community as a whole. We understand also that some retailers and service providers might link any revenue loss to the lure of the casino. Studies have pointed to the downside of riverboat gambling and casinos on a local economy.

Nonetheless, encouraging signs lie beneath the first-month figures from the Hoosier Park Casino.

First, there’s money out there to be spent, and revenue to be recouped by local businesses.

The average slot machine at Hoosier Park took in $3,215 every day. Some small merchants would enjoy seeing that amount added to their daily revenue. Much of that, of course, is from visitors coming from outside Madison County.

This is the moment for businesses to coordinate tourism ventures, whether they are events tied into racino activities or advertising-related discounts in restaurants, hotels or neighboring shops. Now is the time to promote packages focusing on the closer proximity of entertainment in central Indiana in an era of rising gas prices.

All of us would be interested in knowing whether that $189 million would have been spent elsewhere in Madison County. But we don’t think so, particularly when we take into account the new visitors coming to Anderson.

Those visitor estimates aren’t available yet. We hope that Hoosier Park shares some of its data — particularly the number of out-of-county visitors — with business groups to help them fully capitalize on the new consumer traffic.

This is the time for all businesses and organizations to explore ways to capitalize on the millions of dollars now rolling into the area.