Standing on the site in Columbus where one of four new casinos are to be built in Ohio, supporters of state Issue 3 said now that the campaign is over, developers want to get moving.
Statewide, voters approved the constitutional amendment by a 53 percent to 47 percent margin. However it failed in 61 counties -- including all three in this area -- as well as in the greater Columbus area. Mahoning County Democratic Party Chair Dave Betras said supporters "had too big of a lead coming out of Hamilton and Cuyahoga County, where our votes mattered."
Betras was one of several area leaders actively working against Issue 3, complaining it left the Valley out of the loop for a casino while capitalizing on local support for gambling. He said he will now work to make sure developers deliver the additional tax revenues they campaigned casinos would bring.
However Issue 3 spokesman Bob Tenenbaum said developers intend to "roll up our sleeves and get to work, proving to the voters that their confidence in this issue was deserved."
Tenenbaum said the next steps will be up to the Ohio General Assembly, which has six months to craft legislation regulating gambling in the state, as well as create a body to oversee the casinos. He said ground should be broken on all four casinos sometime during 2010 and that they should be open sometime in 2012.
Although it wasn't enough to carry the day, Betras said he was pleased his message got through in this area and that voters in all three counties came together as a block to oppose Issue 3.
He claimed the vote will show political leaders around Ohio they can't simply take support from for granted as they might have in the past, and he hopes that could translate into some positive spin-offs in the future.
