Ohio: Casino Crimes Costs

Bureau of Criminal Investigation will handle crimes on casino floors

By David Eggert
The Columbus Dispatch

The state’s casino regulatory panel today chose the Bureau of Criminal Investigation to temporarily investigate crimes on casino floors at the Cleveland and Toledo casinos opening up next year.

BCI — a division of the attorney general’s office — was chosen instead of the State Highway Patrol in a 6-0 vote.

The decision means the Casino Control Commission will seek a memorandum of understanding with BCI to do the police work. Details to be worked out include how long agents will handle the work and the cost.

The panel ultimately wants to have its own agents doing investigations at all four casinos (Columbus and Cincinnati are the others). The gaming agents working for BCI could be transferred under the commission’s jurisdiction at a later date.

Both the patrol and BCI proposed doing investigations at all four casinos for more than $4.5 million a year. For now, the commission is focusing on Cleveland and Toledo because they are scheduled to open first – as early as March and April.