Ohio nonprofits fear casinos will hurt fundraising

Associated Press

CLEVELAND

Hundreds of nonprofit groups in Ohio that depend on money collected through bingo and charity poker fear the opening of four new casinos will further diminish their primary fundraising source.

Millions of dollars are at stake, The Plain Dealer in Cleveland reported Sunday. The most recent available data shows nonprofit groups got $850 million through bingo from 2005 to 2009, and charity poker raised several million dollars.

The effect on nonprofits is among the factors being considered by two gaming consultants hired by first-term Republican Gov. John Kasich.

“Frankly, I don’t know how all-volunteer organizations can compete with all the bells and whistles of a casino,” said Dianne DePasquale-Hagerty, director of Medina Creative Housing, a nonprofit group that raised tens of thousands of dollars through a Cleveland charity poker festival.