GOP lawmaker proposes limiting casino/racino credits used to reduce state taxes

COLUMBUS

A Republican lawmaker wants to limit promotional gaming credits used by casinos and racinos that reduce the taxes they pay to the state.

Sen. Bill Coley, R-West Chester, said the gaming facility operators should be paying for such promotions out of their own pockets, given that actual revenue results from the gambling establishments are well below tax-revenue projections offered to voters.

“We think that the effect of this bill will be to increase revenues to schools and local governments,” Coley said. “We think it’s high time that the people that made promises to the citizens of the state of Ohio live up to those promises and start delivering the revenues that were promised.”

Penn National Gaming calls the legislation “ill conceived and misguided.”

Coley announced plans to introduce the bill Tuesday at a press conference at the Statehouse.

Under a constitutional amendment voters approved in 2009, casinos are required to pay a tax of 33 percent on their gross receipts. The amendment defines the latter as earnings minus payouts, though lawmakers passed subsequent legislation allowing operators to deduct promotional credits from the total.

Those credits are used by casinos and racinos — race tracks that are allowed to offer video lottery terminals on their premises — to draw customers, giving them free plays on slot machines and table games.

Coley said when the casino issue was placed before voters, backers offered projections of hundreds of millions of dollars in tax collections for the state and thousands of jobs.

But the casinos that have since opened have not installed the number of slots authorized under the constitutional amendment, and the resulting facilities have been smaller than initially planned, Coley said, adding that state and local governments have lost out on $165 million in promised revenues as a result.

He has proposed blocking promotional-credit deductions for casinos and racinos that have not installed at least 90 percent of the slots and table games outlined in the state constitution or law.

Read the complete story in Wednesday's Vindicator or on Vindy.com.