Ohio gaming push
January 1, 2009
Casino gambling at racetracks to be proposed in state Legislature
Ohio State Rep. Louis
Blessing Jr., a Cincinnati Republican, announced plans to introduce legislation
in early 2009 to permit casinos, or at least slot machine, at the state’s seven
racetracks.
“Ohio is losing too much
money to out-of-state gambling interests,” Blessing said. “Ohio needs the revenues and the jobs casinos
would bring.”
The draw
of casino games also would boost attendance at the racetracks, which Blessing
said have been suffering from declining revenues in recent years due to the
out-of-state competition for gambling dollars.
Blessing also said he would support a new referendum to
allow the building of casino resorts in Ohio.
Proposed for next November, the new ballot initiative would come one year after
the failure of Issue 6 last November. Unlike Issue 6, which proposed only a
single casino resort near the central Ohio city
of Wilmington, the new initiative would likely
share the wealth by allowing casinos to be built in other parts of the state,
including near Cleveland, Cincinnati,
Toledo and
Youngstown.
Days after Issue 6 was trounced by 63 percent of
voters, pro-casino group MyOhioNow founders Dr. Brad Pressman and Rick Lertzman
began visiting investors and gaming companies to raise funds for a November
2009 casino referendum.
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