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March 20, 2009 In a homestretch run to save the state's flagging horse-racing industry, the Ohio State Racing Commission sent lawmakers a proposal today to allow 14,000 video slot machines at the seven racetracks across the state. The commission estimated that by 2013, electronic slots at racetracks would generate $1.3 billion after winnings are deducted. Of that, $625 million would go to a special education fund for primary and secondary schools; agents at the racetracks would keep $650 million in commissions. Thomas M. Zaino, a commission member and the state's former tax commissioner, said during a meeting at Beulah Park in Grove City that the proposal isn't "a panacea for Ohio's economic woes or school-funding challenges. ... While adding such gaming will save Ohio's horse-racing industry, it will certainly not save Ohio." Zaino contended that the General Assembly and Gov. Ted Strickland could approve the slots proposal without a public vote. Unlike video-slot and gambling proposals rejected by Ohioans in the past several years, the commission wants to have a state agency - the commission itself, the Ohio Lottery Commission or a new entity - and not a private company manage and regulate gambling operations. An estimated 150 additional state employees would be needed. The tracks would have to pay $50 million apiece over two years to become licensed agents for slot-machine operations. The idea comes along at the same time as a proposal by Cleveland Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert and a Pennsylvania-based gambling company to seek voter approval to build full-service casinos in Columbus, Cleveland, Cincinnati and Toledo. The issue could be on the November ballot. That proposal would produce an estimated $600 million annually to be shared mostly by local governments and schools. Strickland, who expanded Ohio's lottery system by adding keno without a public vote, said today that he isn't inclined to support the commission's slot-machine proposal. "Without having looked at the issue in any deep way, my initial reaction would be a negative one," he said. Zaino said Ohio's seven horse tracks are steadily losing business to gambling venues in neighboring states. Five of them probably will fail in the near future, he said, costing the state 8,600 jobs and the state economy $328 million. The commission needed look no further than its own agenda today for an example of real-life problems in the industry. The panel reluctantly voted to suspend the operating permit of the Thistledown horse track near Cleveland on March 28 because the company is in bankruptcy proceedings and can't afford the required $1 million bond. William Ford, an attorney for Thistledown, asked the commission to allow the track to operate for two weeks without the bond until the bankruptcy court frees more of the company's assets. Commission members said they could not take the risk. However, the commission is working with Strickland's office on a possible emergency executive order to give Thistledown leeway in the type and amount of bond it must post so the track can remain open. State Rep. Tyrone K. Yates, D-Cincinnati, who sought an analysis of the racing industry's position at a recent budget hearing, said he doesn't agree with the slots proposal. "This is not the kind of gambling that Ohio ought to pursue. The emphasis here is on using gambling as a revenue source that continues to strip money from low-income and working-class families on such a broad scale. It serves a narrow private interest but not the public good." |
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