Ohio: Casino benefits elicit skepticism, $8 Billion deficit

Casino benefits elicit skepticism
Local officials doubt public agencies will win under legalized gambling.

SPRINGFIELD — One argument for establishing casinos in Ohio’s four largest cities was that the revenue would be taxed at 33 percent with 85 percent of that money going to every county and public school in the state.


But even the man appointed by the governor to oversee casinos sees it as likely this will only offset state cuts somewhere else.

“It’s not unlikely that when the legislature evaluates their cuts that they’ll calculate in the cash flow to local governments from the casinos,” said Charles Saxbe, appointed Ohio Casino Control Commission chairman and himself a former state lawmaker.

There’s little the commission can do about it. In fact, there’s little the commission can do at all since the Republican-controlled state Senate won’t confirm the outgoing governor’s appointments.

This adds to uncertainty for local governments watching nervously as state lawmakers, short $8 billion, eye their local government funds.

It will be 2012 or 2013 until the money actually starts coming in, and a lot could change between now and then. Additional factors include whether video lottery terminals will be allowed at Ohio race tracks and what impact the economy will have on gambling.