No On Issue 3 Ads.

[adrock]

you can’t really look at cities which would be shit holes without a casino and still blame it on the casino.

and i sure as heck hope that the casinos would bring in current employees to work here. how awful would the service be with 100% n00b staffing? no business opens new locations and doesn’t bring in people from other locations to start it up.

but lets pretend that 34,000 people are flown in on fleets like somalians though…that’s still 34,000 people paying into our local economy that weren’t here before.

i have no idea what the actual number would be, but say those 34,000 people average $40K a year, 2.5% columbus city tax = $34,000,000.

obviously many of those jobs would drop off after construction and everything, but many will stay with maintenance, hotels, police, and everything else related to the business. it’s still a lot more money for the city and state just from payroll taxes alone, not even counting the 33% gross revenue tax.

[Walker Evans]

misskitty wrote >>
No one is going to drive into Ohio to work at a casino.

Maybe not in Columbus, but technically the jobs created at the Toledo and Cincinnati locations could easily be going to folks who live in Michigan and Kentucky. I guess they would still be paying income tax in Ohio… but yeah… just sayin’.

adrock wrote >>
obviously many of those jobs would drop off after construction and everything…

Right. That big number includes construction, so those aren’t necessarily permanent jobs at the casino.

[Anne Evans]

Rockmastermike wrote >>
also, can we get rid of the extra apostrophe in the topic? It’s distracting.

:)

[Patch]

Does anyone know if this Issue has the same limits as the previously proposed issue?

AKA, only one owner was approved, and if another casino opened not by him he got all kinds of tax abatements and such.

[joev]

The slots at racetracks plan give the state a 50% tax rate. This give the state a 33% tax rate.

[Columbuzz]

I don’t know that it’s really a fair to say that all of the money would leave the state because it would be owned by a non-Ohio entity. How many non-Ohio companies do we have that operate within the state of Ohio already? Flipping that, how many Ohio companies do we have that operate nationally and internationally? Yes, some money may go out, but we do have money coming in. Just because some company doesn’t establish its headquarters here doesn’t automatically make it bad.

Re: construction jobs – not only does it increase those jobs, possibly in a much longer term than merely building a casino as things get built up around the gaming institutions, but there’s a ripple effect: they have to get their supplies from somewhere. I don’t fully expect those supplies to be transported in from out-of-state. Enter Cleveland steel mills.

And, yes, I have been in many gaming facilities around the country (including Puerto Rico and a few in the Bahamas). Many people continue to forget that the Las Vegas strip is NOT their downtown. It is a separate destination set apart from their downtown on purpose (and their downtown is pretty slummy – although it’s gotten safer, I still wouldn’t venture too far from Fremont). Detroit is the only city that I know of that has a somewhat successful gaming facility in a downtown location. Detroit has its own problems, and whose to say if those problems would exist without casinos? At least they’re able to chip away at those people who would have otherwise hopped the border to Windsor. Outside of Vegas, they’re all kind of grimy and some are downright pathetic. I agree, the riverboat casinos are the worst.

I’m all for gaming in Ohio, but only where it will be the most beneficial and is able to address safety concerns and gambling addiction in the best way. An Arena District location isn’t exactly ideal.

[rus]

http://www.theotherpaper.com/articles/2009/09/24/cover_story/doc4abb6de24e71d641127792.txt

Issue 3 has been endorsed by the Ohio Fraternal Order of Police, the Ohio AFL-CIO and the United Auto Workers of Ohio, in addition to a whole host of pipefitters, Teamsters, electric workers and building and trade councils.

O’Grady will be the first one to tell you that jumping on the anti-gambling bandwagon could jeopardize his standing with union support. But the commissioner, who is not morally opposed to gambling, feels convinced that Issue 3 is a bad deal for taxpayers.

Casino owners have “gone to great pains to guarantee an obscenely low tax rate for themselves, as compared to neighboring states, and they’ve written in low license fees,” O’Grady said.

“Not to mention, they’ll practically be allowed to give away food and entertainment. It’ll be a detriment for the (Huntington Park) ballpark, for the county and for the state.”

[Tigertree]

I can’t imagine ANYONE saying, “I was about to catch the ballgame, but I think I’ll head into the casino and check out their lounge act instead.” Even in Vegas, not much is given away in casino’s anymore.

[HeySquare]

Walker wrote >>

misskitty wrote >>
No one is going to drive into Ohio to work at a casino.

Maybe not in Columbus, but technically the jobs created at the Toledo and Cincinnati locations could easily be going to folks who live in Michigan and Kentucky.

Yeah, god forbid any laid off auto workers in Michigan get a chance for a new job. ;)

C’mon man… you’re begrudging MICHIGAN and KENTUCKY jobs?

[Tigertree]

+1 to adrock and columbuzz. There are a lot of examples of non sh*thole casino areas around the country. I am guessing wheeling island wasn’t exactly paradise pre-casino. There will be a huge ripple effect. My parents live near Peoria, IL and I have been to the boat with then a few times when visiting. There are a couple of great restaurants right by the boat that would definitely not exist were it not for the casino. There is nothing dangerous near it, because Peoria wasn’t a bad place to start with.

[Walker Evans]

HeySquare wrote >>
C’mon man… you’re begrudging MICHIGAN and KENTUCKY jobs?

No, I’m not.

I was just making an observation.

[misskitty]

Lets say someone does come into another city to work. Don’t they still have to pay taxes in that city that they work in?
I still don’t see all those jobs being taken over by people from other states.

I would also encourage some research into the evolution of neighborhoods in wheeling and indiana after the casinos went in. What has the impact been after a few years? I for one would love to know.

I agree that would also be something to look at before placing a vote on something so big.

[Columbuzz]

I still don’t understand why it’s so hard to just have a simple vote to say “yes” or “no”, gaming can go on in Ohio; then, if it were to pass, leave it up to the county or city that the proposed casino would be built.

That’s been my biggest problem with this issue every single time they bring it up – it’s too specific and I don’t think I should be allowed to vote on a casino being built in someone’s backyard on the other side of the state.

[Colin Perkins]

You’ll notice that in any pro-casino ads they will NEVER say 34,000 new jobs to Ohioans – and they mention “the economy” but never say “Ohio’s economy”. Basically, they use very, very general language to avoid being pinned down.

[Colin Perkins]

What reason would Ohio politicians have for opposing the casinos if they honestly felt that they would be good for the state? Studies have already shown that the support for the casinos doesn’t affiliate along party lines.

http://www.ohio.com/news/61962952.html

Majorities of both Democrats and Republicans backed Issue 3, while independents were more likely to say ‘no.’

[Author]

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