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Ohio Ballot Board Allows Casino Supporters to Gather Signatures for Gaming Plan

On April 14th, 2009, supporters of a proposal to construct casino facilities in Ohio's four biggest cities can start collecting signatures on a petition to install the casino issue on the November 2009 ballot. The Ohio Ballot Board decided that the casino ballot measure contains a single constitutional change, allowing gaming supporters to finally gather signatures for their casino plans. The vote is four-one.

The chairwoman of the Ballot Board, Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner, dissented. She pointed to a provision on the ballot measure that would allow the same type of gaming in the state of Ohio as in 4 neighboring states, stating that it would be unprecedented to link Ohio's gaming law to other states. The Ohio Jobs and Growth Plan would construct one casino facility each in Toledo, Cleveland, Cincinnati and Columbus. Casino supporters must submit valid signatures of 402,275 to the secretary of state by July 1st, 2009 to qualify for the November referendum.

Previous gaming related proposals have reached the ballot, with the support of petition circulators, only to fail at the poll. Ohio residents have turned down attempts to expand gaming four times. The Ohio Jobs and Growth Plan is a collaboration between Penn National Gaming Incorporated from Pennsylvania and Cleveland Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert, would allow four full-sized casino facilities with casino table games and up to five thousand slot machines each.

Supporters say that the casino facilities would produce $1.8 billion in yearly revenue, with 1/3 allocated for local government, schools and other community projects. Casino developers would be required to spend at least $250 million on each casino facility, which supporters say would be a sound and good investment in Ohio's economy.

The spokesperson for the Ohio Jobs and Growth Plan, Bob Tenenbaum said that the group has several signature gatherers that are ready to collect the signatures that the casino plan needs. Critics say gaming would take money from residents during hard times. Critics also say that voters have dismissed casino style gaming 4 times by a big margin so they think that this time will not be any different.

05/04/2009 20:22 PM

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