Ohio: A Lesson

Voter approval of a Gambling Industry crafted referendum [after flooding Ohio with $$$$] produced predictable consequences, not all fully realized.

Interesting to watch!


Ohio's casino consultants rake in the chips: editorial
By The Plain Dealer Editorial Board The Plain Dealer

The Columbus Dispatch took a closer look at what gambling consultants charge the Ohio Casino Control Commission. Short answer: Top dollar, though the money comes from casino fees, not state taxes.

Spectrum Gaming Group, a New Jersey outfit, charged Ohio more than $1.5 million last year, about $85,000 of that for travel; some hourly fees reached $375. The newspaper also noted that Los Angeles investment bank Moelis & Co. may collect $15 million for helping Gov. John Kasich's administration dicker with casinos to fatten the state's cut of casino profits.

These fees qualify as wretched excess. But, as the Dispatch also reported, Spectrum was the casino commission's de facto staff during political bickering that stalled the commission's appointment. Ideally, as commission Executive Director Matthew T. Schuler told the Dispatch, Spectrum may "work [itself] right out of a job" as the four casinos win licenses and the commission builds out its staff.

There's a sorry Statehouse context here. As to Moelis' work, then-Gov. Ted Strickland failed in 2009 to offer Ohioans a taxpayer-friendlier alternative to the (casino-written) ballot issue.

Then, an equally irresponsible General Assembly practically invited firms such as Spectrum to Ohio to cash in. The GOP-run Senate and the Democrat-run House dawdled for 22 weeks after the 2009 referendum vote before they created the casino commission -- and that law didn't take effect until September 2010. Then Strickland waited another month to pick commissioners. His appointees were capable, but Republican Kasich unseated Democrat Strickland. Then, predictably, GOP senators, just before Christmas 2010, vetoed Strickland's commissioners. Finally, last February, almost 15 months after voters said they were OK with casinos, Kasich named today's commission.

Given that chronology, the wonder, arguably, isn't how costly the consultants are -- and they are too costly -- but that they aren't even costlier.