Editorial: Casinos a bad deal for Ohio's economy

Monday, October 27, 2008  

"Even if you would like to see casinos in Ohio some day, the Issue 6 casino proposal on the Nov. 4 ballot deserves your "no" vote. It is a bad deal for Ohioans.

Casino-style gambling is not permitted under the Ohio constitution. Issue 6 would amend the Ohio constitution to allow one privately owned $600 million casino to be built on a site near Wilmington in Clinton County between Columbus and Cincinnati.

That location is nearly a four-hour drive from Lorain. The Detroit area casinos are an hour closer. Besides, we'd still like to see a casino in Lorain some day, and Issue 6 does not allow that.

Under Issue 6, the owners of the lone downstate casino would pay no more than 30 percent tax on the money raked in from gambling, after payouts. Other states command a far higher tax rate, opponents note.

Worse, Issue 6 would cut the casino's tax rate to 25 percent, or lower, if another casino were allowed in Ohio later; the new rate would match whatever a second casino must pay. The biggest danger is that the Issue 6 casino could end up paying zero tax in the unlikely event that an Indian casino opened in Ohio. Because Indian casinos are located on what is declared to be sovereign tribal land, they are exempt from taxes. It is a long-shot to think that a tribe would win the right to put a casino in Ohio, but it is not impossible."

Get the Story:
EDITORIAL: Vote 'no' on Issue 6, it's a bad casino deal for state, area counties (The Morning Journal 10/27)

Other Stories:
Odds against no-tax casinos (The Columbus Dispatch 10/26)
Issue 6 panned in casino-less Lorain (The Morning Journal 10/27)