Over 1,100 Ohio Signatures Collected for Casino Initiative

At the polls around Ohio Tuesday, a petition was circulated for the MyOhioNow.com Casino initiative. The petition was able to collect more than 1,100 signatures.

The MyOhioNow.com casino plan calls for building a $600 million casino in Clinton County, Ohio along Interstate-71, not too far from Cincinnati. The web site claims the large casino would employ 5,000 Ohioans and generate around $200 million in state tax revenue. The revenue would then be divided among Ohio's 88 counties on a per capita basis.

And it appears this initiative has a large majority of Ohio voters on its side. According to a recent statewide poll conducted by the reputable firm SurveyUSA, a whopping 68% of Ohioans approve of legalized casino gambling in Ohio.

The proponents of the plan claim its different from past casino initiatives in that it calls for only one casino at a single location. While obviously true, it is not clear how that is an advantage to this specific plan. On their web site, the organizers claim the location in Clinton County would be close to all the major population centers in Ohio. That's simply not true. Northeastern Ohioans, such as myself, are actually closer to the casinos in Michigan and Ontario by driving time than we are to this proposed site in Clinton County.

Casinos scattered throughout Ohio would ensure maximum tax revenue and large volume of visitors. Clevelanders will not travel down to Clinton County when they can go to Detroit or Windsor and save an hour driving. I think any plan for legalization of casinos in Ohio should include at least 3 locations. One casino each for the metro areas of Cleveland, Columbus, and Cincinnati. Nonetheless, any amount of casino gambling in Ohio is a definite step in the right direction.

Another thing is that they were only able to collect 1,100 signatures throughout the state on Tuesday? Millions of Ohioans voted, the most in any primary before, and they were only able to secure 1,100 signatures? That seems kinda...pathetic. Their web site says they need to collect 402,275 from all 88 counties in Ohio. I hope their very close to that number of this initiative will likely never make the ballot in November.