Bill Peirce Press Release on Proposed Gambling Amendment

Thanks to Jason at Yearning to Breathe Free I found out about Bill Peirce's postion on the proposed Gambling Amendment. The Toledo area is involved in this since if passed it would allow slot gambling to take place at Toledo Raceway Park.

While I understand the desire to increase/create funding abilities for the State, I was already skeptical as to the amount of money that would go to education even prior to reading this press release. After reading the press release this one particular section made me even more concerned:

Ohio is asking absolutely nothing in return for this permanent privilege. The “Learn and Earn” ballot issue would not require any payment for the 10 casinos. Indeed, by specifying who will receive the licenses, the proposal prevents competitive bidding. In places where casino licenses are put out to bid (Pittsburgh, for example), gaming companies pay plenty for the privilege. A good estimate is that Ohio is giving away a privilege that it could sell for $4 billion dollars!

The backers of the proposal will argue that state and local governments will receive annual tax payments worth hundreds of millions. Even there, however, Ohio will be short changed. Pittsburgh will extract a tax of 54%, even after taking hundreds of millions up front. The Ohio proposal calls for a tax of 39%! The backers have referred to a tax of 45%, but 6% goes back to the racetracks to subsidize breeding race horses, so that leaves 39% for the public sector. Even for the paltry portion that does go to the public sector, the designers of this proposal have had the arrogance to tell the legislature exactly how the money shall be spent.

Last I heard not one of the candidates for Governor supported this amendment. That alone should tell you something...

Update: I stand corrected, it appears according to this Toledo Blade article that Jim Petro is a supporter of increased gambling in Ohio.