COLUMBUS - Cities could vote on bringing in casinos and thousands of electronic slot machines would be installed at Ohio racetracks, under a new legislative proposal that backers hope to put on the November ballot.
House Speaker Larry Householder said yesterday he believes cities would view the casino idea as a positive trade-off given that rural areas benefit from racetracks through the sale of grain for horses.
So this is a way to allow the urban areas to also have a benefit
Householder said.
Democrats and Republicans resurrected the slot machine plan Tuesday with a proposal to split the revenue between schools and college scholarships. Householder raised the possibility of casinos in cities yesterday.
Racetrack officials, who said polls had found strong support for the slots plan, expressed dismay at the last-minute addition of the casino proposal.
That will kill any referendum said Charles Ruma, owner of Beulah Park in suburban Columbus. It is very very clear that Ohioans are not going to support freestanding casinos.
Householder said the casino proposal was in an infancy stage only.
We certainly have a lot of problems in our cities in this state
so we're open to discussion on anything that helps folks
said Householder, a Glenford Republican.
Gov. Bob Taft said yesterday he's opposed to any form of casino gambling.
He said any kind of large-scale video slot machines at racetracks ... basically amounts to casino gambling
that the people of Ohio have twice defeated.
The slot proposal is the latest legislative attempt to follow the lead of other states and tap what one estimate says is hundreds of millions of dollars in annual revenue for Ohio.
The new proposal would fund college scholarships and guarantee increases in future school funding budgets.
The proposed amendment would require lawmakers to budget money for schools out of the state's general fund; then use the slot machine money to guarantee an increase on top of the basic amount, said Sen. Lou Blessing, a Cincinnati Republican.
So you can't just move money around - it's got to be for an increase
Blessing said.
Republicans want to see about half of the money go to scholarships and half to schools, including money for early childhood programs.
Democrats are hoping to spend more on scholarships, said Sen. C.J. Prentiss, a Cleveland Democrat. The goal is to extend the amount of scholarships available so that students throughout the entire state of Ohio could go to college, he said.
It is imperative that lawmakers look at ways to increase state funding for schools, said Rep. Bill Seitz, a Cincinnati Republican helping craft the new plan.
I personally think it not terribly likely that the schools will need less in the future
Seitz said.
Placing 2,500 slots on Ohio's seven racetracks could raise between $410 million and $820 million a year for the state, according to an October analysis by the Legislative Service Commission, a bipartisan agency that studies the financial impact of bills.
Cleveland Mayor Jane Campbell said the proposal, if approved, would let cities for the first time at least consider casinos.
If the authority is given to the city
we will look carefully at what job opportunities and safety issues are involved
Campbell, a Democrat, said in a statement.
