Francisco Franco still dead. So is Cincy casino.

This week's award for belaboring the obvious goes to Queen City Gaming Entertainment, which announced Tuesday that it has pulled the plug on its plan for a slots parlor at Broadway Commons, at least for this year.

That outcome became apparent a week ago, when the company headed by hotelier Louis Beck stumbled out of the gate on the very first day of its satatewide petition initivative drive.

A competing group - Ohio Learn & Earn, a group formed by race track owners and Cleveland developers - filed challenges to the Queen City petitions in a number of counties around the state, guaranteeing yet another delay for the Cincinnati group.

Staring at an Aug. 9 deadline to come up withte signatures of 323,000 registered Ohio voters, Queen City Gaming Entertainment spokesman Brendon Cull conceded last week that the Cincinnati group was probably licked.

Tuesday, Cull made it official.

"With less than 50 days to collect over 600,000 signatures (the number the group would probably need to get 323,000 valid ones), we realized that time is too short and no amount of money can buy time,'' Cull said.

Queen City gaming, Cull said, "was hampered by too many legal challenges, too many missteps and a late start that ultimately doomed our efforts.''

That leaves Ohio Learn & Earn, which collected about 200,000 signatures in its first month of operation, as the only game in town with a plan for slots at race tracks and a Cleveland location that leaves Cincinnati out in the cold.