Growing Business Opposition To Gambling

Experience Columbus switches gears, opposes Issue 3


Days after saying taking a stance on a four-casino proposal in Ohio wasn’t in its best interest, the city’s convention and visitors’ bureau has joined the opposition.

Experience Columbus in a statement issued late Thursday said its board voted to oppose Issue 3, a proposed constitutional amendment that, if approved, would allow gambling facilities to be built in four Ohio cities, including one in Columbus on the edge of the Arena District. The organization’s board last Wednesday decided not to take a stance on the $1 billion proposal, a spokesman telling Columbus Business First the board decided “there wasn’t a complete, concrete belief in either side of the coin.”

The board said it reconvened to consider the casino issue “in light of ongoing concerns of business, hospitality and civic leaders.” A number of influential business groups in the city, including the Columbus Partnership and ColumbusChamber, are against the $1 billion proposal, while Mayor Michael Coleman cast his “no” vote this week. Coleman is the only mayor of a city eyed as a casino site that is publicly against the proposed amendment.

“The Experience Columbus board’s specific concern about Issue 3 primarily relates to the lack of sufficient state and local government controls over casinos,” the statement said. “Furthermore, the Experience Columbus board is concerned about the proposed location of the Columbus casino site under Issue 3 and feels that any site chosen for this purpose should be a community-led decision.”