Slot machines for race tracks in Ohio could become reality

The decision by LetOhioVote.org not to seek a vote of the people of Ohio on the proposal by Democratic Gov. Ted Strickland and Republicans and Democrats in the General Assembly to place slot machines in the seven horse-racing tracks in the state means that government is one step closer to having a major revenue source for its battered operating budget.

Strickland intends to ask the courts to settle an outstanding legal question about slot machines: Are the video devices banned under the state’s anti-gambling constitutional language, or are they allowed as an extension of the state lottery? The governor is seeking a declaratory judgment as a means of expediting the proceedings. Time is of the essence, given the bleak prospects for the next biennium budget.

State officials are bracing for the loss of $8 billion as a result of the ongoing national economic crisis and the loss of federal stimulus dollars. Any discussion on Capitol Hill of another stimulus package to help states weather the storm is being influenced by the November general election. Democrats who control the Senate and House aren’t willing to be tagged by Republicans as proponents of runaway spending, while Republicans don’t want to jeopardize their chances of making major gains in Congress.

As a result, deep cuts in spending on the state level are inevitable.

The $933 million the slot machines are projected to generate in the race tracks would go a long way toward cushioning the economic blow Ohioans will suffer over the next several years.

Last November, voters in the state, recognizing that the long-standing opposition to casino-style gambling was placing Ohio at a disadvantage with its neighbors, approved a constitutional amendment to permit the establishment of casinos in Cleveland, Cincinnati, Columbus and Toledo. The first one could open next year in a building in downtown Cleveland.

Prior to last November’s approval of the casino gambling issue, Ohioans had said no four times to the expansion of gambling from the state lottery, horse racing and bingo.

As for slot machines in the seven tracks, LetOhioVote committee members Tom Brinkman and David Hansen noted in a letter to Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner that voter approval of casino-style gambling and the creation of the Casino Control Commission to oversee the four facilities ensure a thorough and thoughtful review.

No surprise

Withdrawal of the referendum last month did not come as a surprise. After the voters spoke in November, passage of the slots-in-the-race tracks plan was a given. After all, Ohioans have concluded that gambling is a necessary evil.

We have long opposed the expansion, but last year’s debate in Columbus over the biennium budget left little doubt in our minds that the creation of jobs in the traditional economic sectors, such as small businesses and manufacturing, was going to be difficult at best.

Ohio has been hard hit by the national economic recession that began in 2008. And while the Strickland administration is working tirelessly to reignite the state’s economy — in the Mahoning Valley, General Motors’ Lordstown plant and the V&M Star expansion are prime examples — the expansion of gambling will result in hundreds of millions of dollars in investments and thousands of jobs.

In the current climate, that’s not an insignificant proposition.