Tuesday, November 14, 2006

By a lopsided margin, Ohio voters once more have turned down a proposal to
allow video gambling at racetracks and a few other locations in the state.
Last week's referendum on the issue marked the third time that voters have
said no to gambling beyond that allowed through the state lottery system.
What went wrong for gambling promoters? They spent an estimated $20 million
attempting to convince voters that gambling was a good bet for Ohio. They
promised that hundreds of millions of dollars a year would be made available
for college scholarships. For good measure, they threw in millions of
dollars for economic development. They really thought they had the battle
won, this time. But they underestimated the perceptiveness of voters who saw
through the slick advertising, including claims that, somehow, legalized
gambling would remedy problems "the politicians" had not addressed. They saw
that Issue 3 on the ballot would have locked the state in to receiving less
than a fair share of proceeds from gambling. Had it been approved, gambling
promoters would have been permitted to keep 55 percent of the proceeds from
their casinos. Supporters of legalized gambling were in shock after the
election. Where did they go wrong? Simple: They attempted to pull a fast one
on voters - who read between the lines and didn't fall for it.