COLUMBUS - When Ohioans last defeated a casino gambling effort in November 1996, a delighted Gov. George Voinovich said it "shows that the people of Ohio do not want casino gambling - yesterday, today or tomorrow."
So has Ohio crossed into the day after tomorrow?
A new Enquirer survey finds plenty of support in the Ohio House and Senate to place a gambling issue on the Nov. 8 ballot - if details are right.
To do that, three-fifths of members in the House (60 of 99) and Senate (20 of 33) would have to agree to place a constitutional amendment on the ballot, giving voters the say in whether they want casinos, racetrack slot machines or some combination.
Of all 33 senators polled in the past eightweeks, 26 said they would vote to put a racetrack-slots proposal on the ballot, if the profits were wisely spent.
Twenty-two said they would support a ballot issue that included full casinos, if the money was well-spent.
In the House, 58 of 83 members surveyed said they would vote for a slot-machine ballot issue. Of the 16 House members who couldn't be reached for comment, eight voted for a slots proposal last year.
Asked about casinos, 54 members said they'd vote yes.
Rep. Bill Seitz, R-Green Township, says he's not surprised by the results. He says lawmakers start finding reasons to vote "no" once details of any gambling plan emerge.
"It starts breaking down over where the money should go," says Seitz, who's organizing the pro-casino effort.
Survey results bear that out. Some lawmakers say an estimated $500 million in annual tax profits should go to schools. Others say it should save state programs targeted for cuts. Still others would use the money to lower taxes. One senator even suggests mailing every Ohio taxpayer a check, dividing the profits evenly.
Late last month, Seitz organized a meeting of 60 gambling supporters in an effort to get city mayors, developers, horse track owners and Indian tribes to agree on a single gambling plan - something that hasn't happened in the past.
Even the Ohio Council of Churches, which helped defeat casinos in 1996, expects gambling to make it to the ballot in the next two years.
"The only thing keeping this out are groups fighting among themselves," says Tom Smith, the council's public policy director. "This will cause more difficulties than my group or any group will cause."
