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Casino supporters,  foes to spend millions

A similar issue generated more than $60 million for campaigns last year.

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By William Hershey, Staff Writer 1:56 AM Sunday, August 30, 2009

COLUMBUS — Casino gambling issues in Ohio tend to be high-stakes, big-money affairs with gaming companies going head to head in an all-out effort to win.

Last year Penn National Gaming contributed nearly all of the more than $38 million raised to defeat a proposed casino plan for Wilmington. Meanwhile, supporters raised more than $25 million in a losing cause.

This year, Penn National, headquartered in Wyomissing, Pa., and Cleveland Cavaliers’ owner Dan Gilbert are the principal backers of a ballot plan to put casinos in Cleveland, Columbus, Cincinnati and Toledo.

Another gambling company, MTR Gaming Group Inc. of Chester, W.Va., is helping lead the fight against it.

Nobody knows for sure how much each side will raise and spend before the Nov. 3 vote, but it’s expected to be another multimillion dollar grudge match.

“We’re willing to spend whatever it takes to defeat it,” said Robert Griffin, chief executive of MTR, which is part of TruthPAC, the group opposing the issue.

The Ohio Jobs and Growth Committee, the pro-ballot group representing Penn National and Gilbert, already has raised nearly $4.4 million this year in cash and in-kind contributions, spending most of it to get the issue on the ballot.

Catherine Turcer, director of the Money in Politics Project for Ohio Citizen Action, a government watchdog group, expects the cash to flow.

“Actually, in this particular case, so much is at stake here for both sides that I don’t think they’re bluffing when they say they’ll spend whatever it takes,” said Turcer.

The casino battle is raging at the same time the state is gearing up to put video slot machines at Ohio’s seven racetracks as part of the plan approved by Gov. Ted Strickland and the state legislature to raise $933 million over two years to balance the state budget.

MTR owns Scioto Downs, located near Columbus, and Griffin said opposition to the casino plan is based partly on the need to protect the investment his company is making in the video slots program.

The licensing fee for each track is $65 million and the first installment — $13 million — is due Sept. 15.

Penn National, in addition to backing the casino plan, also owns one of the seven tracks, Raceway Park in Toledo, and company officials have said they are considering applying for the video slots program.

Meanwhile, Turcer said there’s nothing “inherently bad” about the money both sides expect to spend on the casino campaign if their messages help voters make up their minds.

It doesn’t always work that way, however, Turcer said.

“I think sometimes so much money is thrown at something, it just clouds the issue,” she said.

Contact this reporter at  (614) 224-1608 or whershey@ DaytonDailyNews.com.

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