Issue 3 -- casinos for Cleveland, Columbus, Cincinnati and Toledo -- coasted to an easy 53-47 per cent win yesterday, a development that cannot be regarded with anything but concern for harness and thoroughbred racing
in the state.
The casinos are not likely to open before 2012, but they complicate the task of racing to win slots next year in another expensive effort. If opponents of Issue 3 were counting on four previous rejections of casinos by Ohio voters, they sadly miscalculated on the change in public attitudes and mores toward casino gaming.
Ohio’s tough economic times, along with high unemployment, led to union support for Issue 3, and second guessing on racing’s late start at effective opposition already is underway. Ohio governor Ted Strickland, who in a turn of heart had supported slots at tracks this year, after dooming them a year or two ago, opposed Issue 3 to no avail.
By next November construction of the casinos in the four major cities will be well underway, and voters will either decide that’s enough, or feel that if the casinos are being built there will be no reason to oppose slots at the tracks as well.
The mayor of Columbus, Michael B. Coleman, who like the governor opposed Issue 3, said he hopes the legislature would step in, but action there would require a three-fifths majority to put a constitutional amendment on a May ballot next spring, and there may be no legislative appetite in view of the solid voice of the voters of the state.
(Harness Tracks of America)