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NBC4i.com wrote
Think Tank: Issue 6 A $1B Giveaway To Wealthy
Tuesday, Oct 14, 2008
By Donna Willis
The right to open a casino in Southwest Ohio would be worth $1 billion if this right were offered at a public, competitive open auction. Those were the findings of a report issued Tuesday by the Buckeye Institute, a Columbus-Based think tank.
Buckeye Institute said Ohio taxpayers could forfeit nearly $1 billion in revenue with the passage of Issue 6. Report author and Buckeye Institute adjunct scholar Jeffrey Hooke called Ohio Issue 6 “a $1 billion giveaway to wealthy individuals.”
FULL REPORT Read the Buckeye Institute’s complete report. (PDF)
Related Story:
Posted previously in another thread, but worth repeating:
• The casino would generate between $697 million and $772.8 million in revenue and pay up to $232 million a year in taxes — of which $181.2 million to $201.4 million would be divided among Ohio counties on a per-capita basis.
• Opening the casino might trigger a law that allows Indian casinos to open in Ohio as well.
• If an Indian casino opens, language in the ballot issue says the tax bill for the southwestern Ohio casino could drop to zero.
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How about $1B on a state rail system + $1B from the 70/71 Split.
meh whatever… im still voting for it. thosuands of rich SOBs dont pay taxes anyway.. whats one more? :P
besides that, i like gaming. and with the economy in the crapper people are going to need something to get their mind off their troubles. like free drinks and roulette.
also i hope to be able to finally acheive my life long dream of being a blackjack dealer.
besides that, i like gaming. and with the economy in the crapper people are going to need something to get their mind off their troubles. like free drinks and roulette.
Good luck with those free drinks.
anyone who votes for this should first visit east chicago (gary area) and weirton, west virginia. or the cookie cutter indian reservation casinos outside seattle. this crap is always proposed as lil vegas and turns into straight depression and scum.
there can be no other vegas (not sayin that gambling itself doesnt get old/cause problems even in vegas) – that’s their identity and they do it best. so why can’t the rest of america just give it up?
can’t we just be the first state to legalize pot or something? how about brothels? can’t we pick a different vice and charge out the ass for it if we really think it would make us a destination? or how about we pioneer something constructive – like a new technology or foster a collaborative community of inventions that better america? (just like there is only one silicon valley)
i’m NOT socially conservative (see any thread about politics on here) and i like to gamble (in vegas) and drink (heavily, at the tree house!) and smoke cigarettes. i’m sorry, but gambling is the most overrated piece of crap ballot initiative in EVERY state. the novelty wears off quick, especially when it’s no big deal because everyone has it.
I would be for it if…
1) It weren’t creating a gambling monopoly for a very few select individuals.
2) If it weren’t set up so that the $180-200 million per year that it could generate for the state would be so easily overridden.
This casino ballot initiative will do absolutely nothing to help our state’s economic situation.
Vuch, you’re right that this casino wouldn’t be like Vegas. In two years, it would be a run down crap hole. I think Vegas is something we shouldn’t be trying to emulate. I’ve never been a place that is more unsustainable, synthetic and gross.
When casino issues appear on the ballot, free of specifics (location, tax %, owners/operators), people complain they don’t know enough.
When casino issues appear on the ballot, with specifics (location, tax %, owners/operators), others complain they don’t like those things being locked in.
I’ve gone to casinos in several states. Most are nice. I can remember only one (in downtown St. Louis, along the river) I went to that was seedy & run down.
Gambling is so widespread now, no states get into the game (no pun intended) thinking they will be the next Vegas. But gamblers within, say, a 100-mile radius can still bring in lots of money.
I’m one of those gamblers & would gladly spend my money here in Ohio rather than somewhere else.
If an Indian casino opens, language in the ballot issue says the tax bill for the southwestern Ohio casino could drop to zero.
The ballot language plainly states that, if another casino(s) were to open in Ohio, casino #1 would pay taxes equal to the lowest rate being paid among the additional casino(s).
That would/could be 0% if an Indian casino were to open in Ohio on tribal land.
But I have yet to hear of a single Indian tribe eligibile to open a casino in Ohio on tribal land. If they were out there & interested, surely we would have heard of them by now, right? Just ask the Eastern Shawnee Tribe how much luck they’ve had.
It’s pretty audacious for a casino company to write something that could be part of our state constitution. If we were to do casinos the right way, I think it would be best to have the legislation (not constituitional amendment) run through the Legislature and Governor’s office. As of now, Governor Strickland and almost all political leaders in the state do not support casinos.
But I have yet to hear of a single Indian tribe eligibile to open a casino in Ohio on tribal land. If they were out there & interested, surely we would have heard of them by now, right? Just ask the Eastern Shawnee Tribe how much luck they’ve had.
i have absolutely no knowledge of the tribes in ohio, let alone who among them would be interested, BUT if i was one of them, i’d be keeping quiet until it passed anyway. Why fuel the anti-gambling fire? Or perhaps the American developers paid them to keep quiet (if they exist – again, pleadin ignorant) – what’s the difference to the American developers? It’s going to get them out of their taxes anyway, so why would they be against it?
If we were to do casinos the right way, I think it would be best to have the legislation (not constituitional amendment) run through the Legislature and Governor’s office.
Except that Ohio’s constitution expressly forbids casino gambling & the only practical way to change the constitution is via ballot initiative. Legislation can’t & won’t do the job.
I agree with rust here. In order to open an Indian casino, the tribe has to have owned the land prior to 1988. There is only one recognized Indian tribe in Ohio, they only own 20 acres of land, and it was purchased in 1989. In essence, there’s no way for an Indian tribe to even claim that they have the right to open a casino in Ohio.
Making a whole lot of arguments about how we could make much more money for the state under other circumstances is useless when our state leaders do not want a casino in our state. If they wanted to introduce measures to create a casino they could have done so long ago. People in our state want to gamble, as evidenced by their mass exodus to nearby states to spend their money. Money drawn away from the lottery will be negligible and offset by the huge amount of money raised by the casino.
I don’t care if Bill Gates is making the money off of this. Whoever came up with the idea is far smarter and more motivated than our representatives, and they deserve to profit. If they get the rights and turn around and sell them, more power to them for being the first to think of it. They saw a need, that Ohioans want to gamble, and took the steps to provide that opportunity. That’s what a free market economy is all about.
I personally think people who gamble are foolish and I feel sorry for them that they can’t control their urges. However, if the choice is between their money going to Indiana or staying here, that choice seems obvious. The “loophole” is BS intended to confuse us. On the very slim chance that an Indian tribe claims they’ve been denied their rights to land, gain land, and open a casino, I guess we’ll give up the tax rights. Where does that put us? With the profits of a few years of casino earnings in our pockets and no worse off than we started out.
I’m really divided on this issue, although frankly I have not put enough research into it. Originally I was for it–it was going to create jobs and bring people to Ohio, two things we desperately need. BUT at the same time, I’ve been hearing a lot of negative things about it, such as this article right here. Anyone wanna lay their opinion on me?
I don’t know which casinos outside of Seattle you’re referring to, but Tulalip is a lot of fun, is clean, and provides a shit ton of jobs that pay way more than most of those people would make otherwise.
I make it a rule to take “think tanks” analyses with a grain of salt. 99% of them are just paid by an organization that wants it’s opinion to come from a 3rd party.
Want a way to shoot down infrastructure projects? Call up the Buckeye Institute or Cato Institute and cut them a check.
Want a way to push an idealistic social agenda? Call up the Center for American Progress and cut them a check.
Want a way to push Christian religious values? Call up the American Family Association or the Family Research Council and cut them a check.
You get the idea.
I love casinos, I used to work in casinos, and I’m voting for casinos.
Attack away. 8)
Attack away. 8)
ooo, do tell why!
Totally off-topic, and I’m completely joking around, but… *cough* streetcar studies *cough cough* ;)
Back on topic:
I am personally still on the fence as well. My personal views toward the “negatives” of casinos have been well documented, which would lead one to think that I’d easily be voting for it.
However, I still have a HUGE problem with the language and it could actually have an easy fix. The co-founder of MyOhioNow even has that answer, although it’s not actually written into the official language:
proposed casino will pay a 30% tax on all gross casino receipts, which we estimate
will exceed $200 million. If, however, any other non-Indian casino opens in
Ohio, then our proposed casino will pay 25% tax on gross casino receipts.
If, hypothetically, an Indian casino opens in Ohio, we would still pay a 30%
tax because our Amendment only pertains to taxable entities. An Indian Tribe
is not a taxable entity. Therefore, even in the unlikely event if it does
open, it would not trigger the provision that lowers the tax rate we would pay.
That is our intent and our pledge to the people of Ohio.â€
Just add the f’ing word “taxable” then! Sheesh…
We should be able to tax any potential Indian casinos, too.
I think I’m going to Slovakia to open a casino on my ancestral homelands.