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State Senate Blocks Slots Gambling at Ohio Tracks
COLUMBUS, OHIO --
Ohio's gambling expansion plans were cut from two to one yesterday, as the proposal to place slot machines at the state's seven race tracks will not be permitted by the state Senate. Governor Ted Strickland, the major advocate for the slots plan, says Senate President Bill Harris told him the Republican majority which controls the chamber will not allow the measure to pass.
Strickland had pushed for the expanded track gambling to raise an estimated $933 million annually, part of a plan to help cover what projects to be a $3.2 billion budget shortfall. The new budget for the state is due in a matter of days, with a July 1st deadline.
Strickland says the Senate must offer their alternative solution, specifying what new taxes they will levy or which programs they will cut to make up the billion dollars they will forfeit without slots.
A second, more ambitious gambling proposal is advancing in Ohio. A plan to license four casinos in the state will be placed on the fall ballot, after petitions drew over twice the number of signatures necessary to advance the measure.
The casino proposal requires an amendment to the state constitution, and thus must pass a popular vote. Strickland said the state attorney general had advised him the slots could be installed by the Ohio Lottery without an amendment, although there was certain to be a court challenge to that if the slots had advanced.
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