MichiganRadio

Will Ohio Voters Bet On Casinos? ANN ARBOR, MI (Michigan Radio) -

Voters in Ohio will go to the polls today to decide whether casinos can be built in the state. But new casinos as close as Toledo could take business away from casinos in Detroit.

A machine clangs and jingles. It's a common sound in a casino. The sound of a small win for one lucky gambler at Detroit's Greektown casino.

But it's part of a much bigger win for the city, and the state of Michigan.

Every year, hundreds of thousands of gamblers from Michigan and neighboring states bet their dollars in Detroit's three casinos. Those dollars create thousands of jobs. They also provide millions in tax revenue.

Now, Ohio wants a bite of that revenue.


"Enough's enough. It's time to take control of our borders. For too long we've given neighboring states our gaming dollars. As that one billion a year goes out of state, with it goes economic opportunity and jobs. It's time to do something." (Pro-casino gaming TV ad)


Voters in Ohio today will decide on a ballot issue that would permit four casinos in their state, including one in Toledo. TV ads like this one claim Ohio is losing big money to out-of state casinos.

"It has not been an easy four years for anybody, a governor or a mayor," says Carty Finkbeiner, mayor of Toledo.

His city has a lot of problems. Its unemployment rate is among the highest in Ohio. Foreclosures have skyrocketed. The city is struggling with a huge budget deficit.

Things got so bad earlier this year that the mayor and his staff had to cut the grass in city parks themselves.

Finkbeiner thinks a casino would plug close to half of the city's budget shortfall, bring jobs to Toledo, and attract visitors.

"The time in my judgment has come for us to stop packing people into buses and into cars and sending them to Michigan and Indiana in particular, but lets have them come to Toledo," says Finkbeiner.

But not everyone wants casinos in Ohio. Opponents include religious leaders, some business groups and racetrack operators. They argue that casinos would encourage gambling problems, suck money away from other businesses, and not be taxed enough. And they complain the issue creates a monopoly for just two gaming companies.

Some casino backers are also under suspicion. Two weeks ago, an employee for the Ohio Jobs and Growth Committee, a pro-casino group, was indicted on charges that he forged applications for absentee ballots.

But the promise of jobs and economic growth from casinos appeals to many Ohioans. People like Sauda Taylor.

On a recent morning, Taylor was helping a friend look for jobs online at an employment center in Toledo. She's a cosmetologist, and she's been looking for a job herself since the hair salon she worked at closed down nine months ago. Casinos have been on the ballot four other times in Ohio. Taylor always voted against them. Now, she's changed her mind.

"I did vote no in the past because it wasn't important," says Taylor, "But now that they're pushing the issue more of telling us we're gonna get jobs, and so I'm like, 'OK, yeah! All for jobs.'"

Taylor's not alone. A recent Ohio Newspaper poll suggests a majority of Ohioans will vote "yes" for casinos today.

But Ohio casinos are not a winning idea for Detroit.


Ohioans make up a large proportion of out-of-state visitors to the city. Many of them come for the casinos.

"Ohio is the number one market for weekend visitors and leisure visitors to metro Detroit," says Chris Baum, with the Detroit Convention and Visitors Bureau," "So it's obviously an extremely important one to us. It falls within the five-hour drive radius we consider a primary target for leisure travelers."

That could change if those visitors stay in Ohio to gamble.

But if the Detroit casinos are worried, they don't show it.

"Is it something that's keeping me up at night? No," says Randy Fine, he manages the Greektown casino, "I don't believe that the casino in Toledo will do very much, why should they? They'll be the only casino in Toledo. So they'll take whatever business happens to come in their front door. And I don't think the customers who enjoy all of the amenities that the Detroit casinos have to offer will patronize those casinos."

But Detroit's casinos have already suffered losses this year. Their revenues in September were down two point four percent from a year ago.

Competition from casinos in Ohio could add another drain on their revenues. Ohioans probably won't be thinking about Detroit's economy when they go to the polls today. But the state of their own economy could be a deciding factor in the casino vote.

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