Casino issue will see millions in spending

DAYTON (AP) — Supporters and opponents of the Nov. 3 casino ballot issue are predicting a multimillion-dollar campaign.

The Ohio Jobs and Growth Committee, a pro-casino group, already has raised nearly $4.4 million this year in cash and in-kind contributions, spending most of it to get the issue on the ballot.

This group represents casino backers Wyomissing, Pa.-based Penn National Gaming and Cleveland Cavaliers’ owner Dan Gilbert.

If approved by voters, the proposal would allow casinos in Ohio’s four largest cities.

Another gambling company, MTR Gaming Group Inc. of Chester, W.Va., is helping lead the fight against the issue.

“We’re willing to spend whatever it takes to defeat it,” said Robert Griffin, chief executive of MTR, which is part of TruthPAC, the group opposing the issue.

Catherine Turcer, director of the Money in Politics Project for Ohio Citizen Action, a government watchdog group, expects the cash to flow.

“So much is at stake here for both sides that I don’t think they’re bluffing,” she said.

The campaign is under way as Ohio gets ready for another type of gambling: slot machines on the state’s seven racetracks.

Gov. Ted Strickland created the slots plan, which allows the Ohio Lottery to oversee video slots terminals housed at the racing facilities in hopes of raising an estimated $933 million for education over the next two years.

MTR owns Scioto Downs near Columbus, and Griffin said opposition to the casino plan is based partly on the need to protect the investment his company is making in the video-slots program.

The licensing fee for each track is $65 million, and the first installment — $13 million — is due Sept. 15.

Penn National, in addition to backing the casino plan, also owns one of the seven tracks, Raceway Park in Toledo, and company officials have said they are considering applying for the video-slots program.

Turcer said there’s nothing “inherently bad” about the money both sides expect to spend on the casino campaign if their messages help voters make up their minds.

It doesn’t always work that way, however, Turcer said.

“Sometimes so much money is thrown at something, it just clouds the issue,” she said.