Ohio Lottery may seek court OK on racetrack slots – Cincinnati.com
The Ohio Lottery Commission may ask a court to give it the legal go-ahead to install video slot machines at seven racetracks across the state, including River Downs in Anderson Township and Lebanon Raceway.
At a Monday meeting, the panel will discuss changing old rules it never got to implement after Gov. Ted Strickland’s gambling plan was halted by the Ohio Supreme Court last year. The commission will also vote on whether to seek a court decision on their authority to install slots. The group that won the right to halt the slots in order to hold a referendum abandoned that effort earlier this summer.
“We hope to achieve legal clarity to implement video lottery terminals – that’s what stopped it last time,” said Jeannie Roberts, spokeswoman for the commission.
The new proposed rules wouldn’t allow gamblers under the age of 21 instead of 18, but don’t yet spell out a tax rate on gambling revenue or application fees for racetracks.
The move comes two weeks after LetOhioVote.org dropped its bid to hold a referendum on the video lottery issue that the group rethought in light of Ohio voters’ approval last fall of building four casinos across the state, including one in downtown Cincinnati.
Despite the disappearing referendum challenge in June, Strickland’s office said it wanted a court decision in the matter before it proceeded with video slots. Before the high court froze the slots last year, Strickland’s plan was the subject of numerous legal challenges.
The 2009 law that originally authorized the slots envisioned up to 2,500 machines at each track.
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