Ohio Casinos

Ohio's controversial casino issue passes

Issue 3, which was proposed through an initiative petition in March of this year, was passed by Ohio voters by a 53 to 47 percent margin on Nov. 3. The issue, which garnered roughly 1.7 million votes in its favor, will amend the Ohio constitution to authorize a single casino to be built within each of four Ohio cities: Cleveland, Columbus, Cincinnati, and Toledo.

It finally passed! Ohio has had 5 issues on the ballot since 1990, two in the last two years. The amendment stated exactly where the casinos would be located, however, Columbus has vowed to fight if the casino is built in their Arena District as the amendment was written. The Casino company has agreed to pick another location, but any change and it has to go on the ballot again in May. This casino will be about an 45 mins away from me. The closest casino to me now is over 2 hours away.

This isn't the best deal for Ohio but it was the best proposal so far. The licensing fees and tax rates aren't as high as other states'. After the issue failed two years ago and the economy tanked, a lot of people changed their minds about casinos and it appeared headed towards passing. The opponents were complaining that the deal is so bad for Ohio, but were unwilling to compromise and even discuss other options, assuming it would fail again. Now that it has passed they want to complain about the issue's terms. What bothers me is that it was just a matter of time before this issue passed, so why didn't the state come up with their own proposal with better terms for Ohio? The state wants to keep pushing the state lottery and recently made keno available in bars, but wants to keep casinos out. So while not the best deal, it will be nice to have a casino within an hour's drive.