Quote:
Originally Posted by short1001
Ohio
This state just passed Issue 3 last November which is an ammendment to the Ohio Constitution and allows casinos in Columbus, Cleveland, Cincinnati and Toledo. The northern part of our state( Cleveland, Youngstown, Akron) has been decimated by the economic downturn and the state is trying hard to come up with creative ways to increase revenue.
One of the major arguments for allowing the casinos in Ohio is the estimated $600M in tax revenues for the state and $50M in licensing fees from each site. Another major selling point of the casinos is that Ohio is in desperate need of jobs and it is estimated that these casinos will provide 20,000 new jobs.
At this point I am unsure whether Ohio will opt in or not. We just passed issue 3 and I'm not sure if the state wants competition from online gaming sites before ours are even built yet. As I mentioned earlier, a major reason Issue 3 passed was the potential for creating so many jobs that we badly need here. I am worried that Ohio government officials will see the competition as a threat to some of the new jobs that were promised ( Our Governor, Ted Strickland was opposed to Issue 3 btw).
Ohio IMO is still up for debate
This is by far the biggest reason that I think many states will opt out. States that already have casinos will not want to create competition for their casinos, thereby threatening the jobs of the casino workers. I live in the tri state area of
Ohio,
Pennsylvania, and
West Virginia - and they all have or will soon have casinos and tracks. I don't see any way that these casinos are going to openly welcome online gaming, unless those casinos can offer their own online casino games (blackjack, roulette, slots, etc) - and even then I think it's a longshot that they would welcome the competition. Call me pessimist, but I think
all three opt out to protect their in state gambling interests. I also fear that many states will follow along with this line of thinking.
Last edited by ktulu22; 07-26-2010 at 01:28 PM.