Small biz rallies for slots

Alexander Coolidge reports:

Nearly two-dozen small business owners held a Friday rally in favor of Issue 3, saying passage of the slots amendment would boost the local economy.

The proposed constitutional amendment would legalize 31,500 slot machines at the state’s seven horseracing tracks plus allow two slots-only casinos in downtown Cleveland. In addition to funneling 45 percent of slot proceeds to education and local government, the business owners said spur development and create jobs.

Jack Hanessian, general manager at River Downs in Anderson Township, said his racetrack would likely attract a restaurant and retail shops if it could add slots. He said his track has land for a possible hotel development but that was part of a longer-term plan. He said slots were needed to prop up the horseracing business in Ohio because surrounding states’ tracks are already supported by slots and use fatter purses to attract the best horses.
“We’re asking for a level playing field,” he said.

The owners of Lebanon Raceway in Warren County are considering moving to a site near Interstate 75 and adding a hotel and other amenities if the amendment passes.

Rusty Woods, sales manager at decorative concrete seller RKC Increte Systems in Columbia Tusculum, said he hoped expansion of local racetracks would spur additional retail and entertainment development in Greater Cincinnati.

“Hopefully it will lead to more construction,” he said.

Opponents have contested proponents’ rosy revenue projections as well as the potential costs of increased compulsive gamblers.