Published: June 23, 2009 04:32 pm      

Coming to Ohio? — 06/24/09

Buckeye State considering what Kentucky just rejected

While the placement of video slot machines at race tracks is now a dead issue in Kentucky, neighboring Ohio is moving forward with a proposal to place slot machines at its race tracks.

While Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland, an ordained Methodist minister, is far from being an enthusiastic supported of expanded gambling in the Buckeye State, he at least has dropped his opposition to slot at tracks. Why the change of heart? With the state facing a $3.2 billion deficit budget, the governor sees expanded gambling as a rather painless and completely voluntary way of raising additional funds of the state without introducing gambling to new locations.

Strickland estimates Ohio would gain $933 million over the next two years from the lottery-run slots, a figure Strickland spokeswoman Amanda Wurst calls “reasonable, even conservative.”

The move for expanded gambling in Ohio was used by the Kentucky racing industry as an argument in support of the now-dead bill to allow slot machines at Kentucky tracks. Obviously, the more states on Kentucky’s borders allowing casino-type gambling, the less lucrative expanded gambling would be in Kentucky.

Revenue from slot machines in West Virginia dropped 1.6 percent immediately after Pennsylvania introduced slot machines at race tracks. This year, revenue from slot terminals at West Virginia’s tracks are down about 7 percent from projections for the fiscal year ending June 30.

There is a major difference between what Ohio is trying to do and the gambling bill that just died in the Kentucky Senate. Many in Kentucky — including this newspaper — believe that voter approval of a constitutional amendment is required to place slot machines at tracks in Kentucky. In Ohio, the law is clear that the legislature can approve a bill to expand gambling without a vote of the people.

If the Ohio legislature does approve slot machines at tracks, the pressure for Kentucky to do the same will be that much greater.