Ohio Governor Asks Legislature for Casino Gambling Alternative

Ohio Governor Ted Strickland, frustrated over state Senators stalling his emergency budget fix using slots at race track casinos, told lawmakers to come up with alternatives.

Governor Ted Strickland of Ohio told the state legislature it needed to go to work day and night to find solutions to the state budget deficit, in particular singling out state Senate Republicans who blocked a hearing on Strickland's slot gambling proposal. The governor suggested the move was political gamesmanship and demanded the gaming opponents offer an alternative to casino gambling at race tracks.

Strickland has said placing slots at the state's seven horse tracks would raise as much as $933 million for Ohio, But lawmakers have criticized several perceived flaws in the plan, including a provision to allow track operators to recoup some or all of the $65 million licensing fee planned if a separate bill licensing four stand-alone casinos passes.

Senator John Husted, one of the Republican leaders refusing to advance Strickland's plan, said such issues needed to be addressed, and that panic would not accelerate the process.

"We are not going to authorize what we feel are false solutions," Husted said. "We are not going to engage in political tantrums."

The Senate said the gambling proposals should be put to a popular vote of all state citizens, an idea found to be shared by ninety percent of Ohio residents in a recent poll. The poll also indicated slots at tracks would be approved by better than sixty percent, as would the casino proposal.