Casino Opposition

After Ohio voters said NO to casino gambling 4 times, $50 million was spent to persuade them otherwise. Who would think their money was wasted?

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This bears watching for the lessons to be learned.

Penn National was part of a $50 million campaign in this state to persuade voters to approve the casino.


WILLARD: Casino plan runs into opposition in Columbus

COLUMBUS: Just when you thought it was safe to walk back into the voting booth, be warned there is a movement afoot to ask you again to approve or reject a casino plan.

In November, after killing four previous attempts to amend the Ohio Constitution to allow casinos in this state, voters gave their blessing to build four gaming sites at specified locations in Cleveland, Toledo, Cincinnati and Columbus.

In the capital city, a group calling itself Stand Up Columbus (SUC) — obviously, no one vetted the acronym — has mounted a campaign to move the site from a spot in the Arena District, where the NHL Blue Jackets and the Clippers, the Indians' Triple-A farm club, play.

Nationwide Insurance, local residents, the Columbus Dispatch's owner and some other business groups with financial interests in the Arena District are not keen on the idea of Penn National Gaming erecting a casino in their neighborhood.

The problem facing SUC is that Penn National's site is in the Ohio Constitution, so to move the casino to another location, voters statewide will have to approve a new amendment.

Initially, the opposition wailed against the casino, stating that Franklin County voters rejected the plan by a 58-42 percent vote.

True, but this was a statewide vote for the Ohio Constitution and it passed. (Using the same logic, Ken Blackwell would be governor of Cincinnati.)

By mid-December, the city of Columbus announced about $750,000 in public dollars earmarked for environmental cleanup for the site would be withheld because the grant was approved when the land was supposed to be used for something other than gambling.

Penn National was part of a $50 million campaign in this state to persuade voters to approve the casino. The company will pay $50 million upfront for a license and has agreed to spend $250 million to build a complex that is expected to be worth $500 million the day it opens.

Does anyone in Columbus really believe Penn National-types were lying awake at night with the sweats over $750,000? SUC has to understand there is a new power in Columbus that makes the city's titans look like pikers.

On to Plan C.

SUC is now looking to work with Penn National to amend the Ohio Constitution to move the casino to some place other than the Arena District.

So far, four sites have been floated like trial balloons, and new ones are being talked about all the time.

The casino could be moved to the old minor league baseball stadium site on the city's near west side. The idea is being met with mixed reaction.

Suddenly, civic leaders are concerned about the economic well-being of the near west side. Just a few years ago, these residents begged the county not to move the Triple-A baseball stadium to the Arena District to avoid further economic devastation to their neighborhood.

SUC is also looking further west, where a Delphi Corp. plant closed in 2007 and eliminated more than 400 jobs, or the expansive and largely shuttered Westland Mall. Both are situated in a stretch of Columbus that you won't see in brochures touting the virtues of the city.

The fourth location isn't even in Franklin County.

The southern Delaware County site is near a former outdoor concert arena that was closed after neighbors fought for years against the noise and traffic the crowds and bands generated.

A number of Delaware County officials already have spoken against the idea.

In November, residents in that county rejected the casino issue by a 63-37 percent vote.

Think about that: SUC, comprised of many who recently decried the casino in Columbus because a majority of Franklin County voters rejected the plan, is now talking about moving its problem to an adjacent county that voted by a larger margin against the idea.

The SUC plan is to have something before voters statewide in May, which means the Ohio General Assembly would have to approve resolutions by early February with supermajority vote margins.

It will be interesting to see just how many lawmakers outside, and for that matter inside, Franklin County are interested in spending tax dollars to put another casino issue before voters.

State Sen. David Goodman, R-New Albany, and state Rep. Cheryl Grossman, R-Grove City, each had one co-sponsor when they introduced resolutions to amend the constitution to require a majority of a county's voters to approve gambling before a casino could be built there.

State Rep. Louis Blessing, R-Cincinnati, had no co-sponsors when he introduced his own resolution to move the Franklin County casino to another site.

As fascinating as the legislative watch will be, what would happen if the constitutional amendment would pass statewide, like last November, but somehow fail in Franklin County?

Even a novice gambler knows the odds are good that SUC suddenly would embrace the concept that the majority of 88 counties rules regardless of a vote in an individual county.

And at that point, Blackwell would be forced to abandon any plans he has to build a governor's mansion in Hamilton County.