pan6467

As an Ohio resident and recovering compulsive gambler I'm voting yes. I made a choice to allow gambling to take over my life and at one time destroy it, but alcoholics do the same and alcohol is still legal. The fact is only 2 - 5% of the population becomes compulsively addicted to gambling. When I gambled, I went out of state, didn't matter I found it.

There are these "skill games" popping up all over that aren't regulated and aren't really taxed because they get shut down for illegal gaming eventually and the owners pay a small fine and open a new place three blocks away. Again, those aren't regulated and are far more harmful than a casino that is regulated will ever be.

Ohio, could have gotten those licensing fees 10 years ago, today the state is lucky to get $50 million or 33% tax.

Why?

- EVERY STATE AROUND US HAS GAMBLING. They don't get casinos here not a big loss people in Ohio will still go to Detroit, West Virginia, Indiana, Niagra, etc. The casinos won't lose a dime.... Ohio will, those tax dollars, that revenue that helps area businesses will be gone to other states.

- 33% tax is a HUGE draw for bigger better casinos than neighboring states. This may actually help us pull in out of state gamblers. If I'm Harrah's and I pay 50+% in taxes in Indiana and can move from a dive city like Lawrenceburg to Cleveland and have a Lakefront casino where I pay less in taxes... I'm going to do it. I'll even help build a convention center and develop the lakefront... in the end my bottom line will be greater. The state and Cleveland also profit from this.

Lower taxes used to draw business is nothing new.

So what? It's all about regulating and making sure the games are run fairly. Not what games are played. The casinos business is to make sure the games they offer not only make them money but draw people in to play them. If a Detroit casino comes up with this great game and people flock to play it... the casinos here better be able to offer that game or they may lose business to that city up north.

You can't really do that because there are other factors, unemployment, the destruction of the auto industry, etc.

Same with Atlantic City... it was a town that once was great but before gambling it was horrendous...

Those who say gambling destroyed those cities forget what those cities were like before gambling. BUT those casinos have helped those cities and states bring in tourist dollars, tax revenue and helped benefit the residents of the ENTIRE state.

Over 1/2 of the states already have casinos, so an out of work dealer has far more choices than just Ohio. Plus, the rate of turnover in the business is pretty high. Training is not an issue. There are schools that can teach dealing in no time and the casinos usually recruit from those.

I didn't see many Vegas dealers flock to Peoria, Lawrenceburg, Detroit, Windsor, Biloxi, and so on. I just don't see this massive influx of unemployed Vages dealers coming to Ohio.

And so what if they do? That means more apartments get rented, more houses get sold, more tax revenue (because you still have more people working), more groceries being sold, and so on.

So in reality no matter where the workers come from in sate or elsewhere, it is still going to help the economy.

And who should have written it? It doesn't matter who wrote it if it works and helps produce tax revenue. Casinos will beyond a shadow of a doubt increase tax revenue immensely in a state that is bankrupt and bleeds that tax revenue to every other state around us that has casinos.

So there you have it. The scare tactics are bunk. This maybe Ohio's last chance. The casinos really don't care because they make their money from Ohioans crossing state lines.

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I just love people who use the excuse "I use/do this because I LOVE the feeling/joy/happiness it brings me" and expect you to be ok with that as you watch them destroy their life blindly following. My response is, "I like to put forks in an eletrical socket, just LOVE that feeling, can't ever get enough of it, so will you let me put this copper fork in that electric socket?"