2-1 odds on Issue 6

This will be a touchy one. In my daily endeavors I have encountered more people wanting to talk about the GAMBLING ISSUE than even the presidential race. It’s an issue many are passionate about but few are willing to learn about the other side. So I’m going to attempt to negotiate both sides today. This is an issue that will directly impact school funding if passed and could adversely affect it in the future if passed as written. I am flexible enough to see the pros and cons of both sides, as a mom, taxpayer, and member of the school board.

Let’s start with the vote no side. This is where I am right now. Not because I see gambling as the end all evil, but because provisions in this particular issue have too many loopholes and guarantees nothing for education. Most no voters are concerned with morals and ethics. They fear that crime, prostitution and drug related activities will follow. Deterioration of families and surrounding communities is a given in their eyes. Mr. Smith will spend his entire paycheck at the casino and surrounding activities while Johnny goes hungry at home. The social ramifications outweigh the economic benefits.

Loophole 1: “The taxes are to be used first to pay expenses of regulating and collecting taxes from the casino, then for funding of gambling prevention and treatment programs”.
Translation- more bureaucrats and government run agencies sucking up your tax dollars.
Loophole 2: “Reduce the tax paid by the casino authorized by this amendment to the lesser of the rate taxed on another casino or 25%”.
Translation: There is an unlikely possibility that this casino could eventually pay nothing to counties. IF, and that’s a big unlikely if, but if a Native American Indian tribe would begin operations of a casino, the tax rate on the Clinton County casino would go to 0%. That’s right. Nothing. So money that counties had become dependent on would disappear. A little less devastating but still making an impact would be that if any other casino begins operations in Ohio, the Clinton County casino would drop to 25% or a rate lower than the tax rate of the new casino.
Loophole 3: “and that no fee shall be charged for applying for a casino license or for renewing a casino license.”
Translation: The only no cost license and renewal in the history of the state of Ohio. This state expects a welfare mom to pay for drivers and dog license renewals yet exempts a fee for a multi million dollar casino operator?
Loophole 4: “shall pre-empt any local zoning resolution, code, or ordinance that would otherwise preclude a casino from operating on the property described in the Schedule to this section or that would require any local hearing, vote, variance, license, or conditional use approval for the establishment of a casino on that site.”
Translation: The new casino will be above the law. And intends to stay that way with language that basically says, no local or state ordinance

Now this isn’t a loophole but…“The General Assembly shall provide by law for the establishment of a Gaming Regulatory Commission, whose members shall be appointed by the Governor with the advice and consent of the Senate.”
See translation to Loophole 1. Substitute “crony” for bureaucrat.

The people in support of legalized gambling in Ohio make some strong points as well. I must separate pro casino from a yes on this particular issue because of the loopholes. There are many Ohioans that support legalizing casino gambling in our state, with protections and provisions in place that benefit the citizenry and consistently supplement local and state revenues. Many in Ohio still feel duped by the Ohio Lottery vote of 30 years ago. They do not want another program that replaces dollars rather than supplementing them. For those of you confused on how the lottery works, I’ll simplify it for you.

Note: NOT real numbers. The state tells our district that we will receive 10 million dollars this year. We do not receive lottery money on top of this. As the state collects lottery money, it uses it toward the10 million it promised the school district. So if the lottery has a good year, we get 10 million. If the lottery has a bad year, we get 10 million.

Benefit 1: 5000 or more jobs, in addition to the hundreds of construction jobs. Nuff said.
Benefit 2: Money currently leaving the state for West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Canada, Indiana, and riverboats will perhaps now stay in Ohio.
Benefit 3: Aside from the casino taxes, other money in the form of income taxes, property taxes, etc will flow to the state and local governments.

What does all this have to do with education? Nothing. Which is the whole point. This is why I’m voting no. This could have been a viable alternative source of income for our schools. People have been yelling for over a decade that the current system of school funding is illegal (it’s not), and they want (need) a reduction of their property taxes. It’s the “over reliance” of property taxes in schools budgets that the Ohio Supreme Court ruled must change. But until that money can be supplemented by another source, it doesn’t look promising. I’m the first one to say lets look for cuts. But you can only cut so much before there is nothing left to cut.

Am I against a casino? No. In fact I would like to write the next set of rules regarding casino gambling in Ohio. The money would go directly to school districts, in addition to the state money already promised, with no abatements or breaks. I don’t believe it is my or the states responsibility to regulate how you spend your money. People in Ohio love to gamble. Ten years ago I did a survey of my own. I asked the dealers in Las Vegas what state they perceived as being Vegas’ biggest customers. All but one said Ohio. The one that didn’t say Ohio said she didn’t know. I went on a bus trip to Windsor, Canada. Six busses from Stow with 60 or more people on each bus. Say each person took $200 (which is being conservative). That’s $72,000 the Canadians got from Ohio. In one trip.

I deal in reality and the reality is this. People want a break on property taxes. Casino gambling is a tangible way to do this. People in Ohio spend lots of money gambling in other states. Right or wrong, it’s money being spent and taxes being paid to other communities. I want that money spent here on my kids and my schools. Now back to that bus trip. The reality is the average person on that trip took $500. That’s $180,000 that went to Canada. I know of one guy that came back with $10,000. That’s a potential $51,000 in taxes Ohio could have collected. But Canada did instead.