Ohio Referendum to legalize Poker

[Emperor]

In Ohio you can amend the constitution of the state via a referendum vote. To get the issue on the ballot you need: "enough signatures to equal ten percent of the electors voting for governor in the last gubernatorial election. Signatures must come from at least half of Ohio's 88 counties and represent five percent of the total vote cast for governor in that county in the last gubernatorial election."

Piece o cake.

Here is the amendment. Please edit for me. I stole 90% of it and half a$$ed the rest.

<font color="blue"> Be it resolved by the people of the State of Ohio, that the Constitution of the State of Ohio be amended by adopting Section 12 of Article XV, to read as follows:

Section 12

"Notwithstanding any other provision of this Constitution, the game of poker shall be permitted at card rooms licensed by the Gaming Integrity Commission, the seven permitted commercial horse racing tracks, and at two locations each fronting on the existing main channel of the Cuyahoga River in the City of Cleveland, one on the west bank within the area generally known as the Nautica Entertainment Complex and with frontage of approximately 1,430 feet in length, extending 560 feet to the northwest and 870 feet to the southeast of the intersection of the center line of vacated Main Avenue and the Cuyahoga River, and one on the east bank within the area generally known as Tower City and starting at the northeast corner of West Third Street, where it meets the east bank of the Cuyahoga River and extending north and west along the east bank of the Cuyahoga River for not more than 1,700 feet and having a depth of not more than 460 feet from the east bank of the Cuyahoga River. The games authorized in this section shall be conducted only at the locations authorized herein, and, in the discretion of the facility owner, may be conducted twenty-four hours each day. Nothing in this section shall be interpreted to authorize other games associated with casinos, including, but not limited to roulette, other card games, and dice games.

One percent of gross card room revenue shall be paid to the state to pay for gambling addiction services; an additional six-tenths of one percent of gross card room revenue shall be paid to the municipality or township in which each facility is located; an additional three percent of gross card room revenue shall be divided equally and paid to the county in which each facility is located and the county seat of that county, which proceeds shall be expended for economic development projects; an additional eight-tenths of one percent of gross card room revenue shall be paid to the county in which the non-track facilities are located, which proceeds shall be expended for economic development projects; an additional eight-tenths of one percent of gross card room revenue shall be paid to the city in which the non-track facilities are located, which proceeds shall be expended for economic development projects; an additional four tenths of one-percent of gross card room revenue shall be divided equally and paid to a county that has a population of at least seven hundred and fifty thousand persons and not more than one permitted commercial horse racing track, and the county seat of such county, which proceeds shall be expended for economic development projects; and an additional two and four-tenths percent of gross card room revenue shall be paid to the state for distribution to all other counties pursuant to the local government revenue assistance fund, which proceeds shall be expended for economic development or capital improvement projects. In addition to the foregoing amounts, an additional six percent of gross card room revenue at facilities located at each permitted commercial horse racing track shall be used by those tracks for purse money.

In the event that devices are transferred between facilities located at permitted commercial horse racing tracks as provided in this section, the transferee facility shall distribute equally the amount of funds this section provides for purse money between the transferor and transferee tracks. An additional six percent of gross card room revenue at non-track facilities shall be deposited into the Ohio simulcast horse racing purse fund for distribution as provided by law. The proceeds of any additional games, if authorized by voters pursuant to this section, shall be distributed in the same manner as the proceeds from the operation of card rooms. No other fees or taxes may be applied to or levied against gross card room revenue or the amounts wagered or the proceeds of the other games authorized by this section.

The amounts paid to the state pursuant to this section do not diminish the General Assembly's constitutional obligations. The moneys expended hereunder on scholarships and grants shall supplement, not supplant, per-student state resources appropriated for post-secondary educational programs and purposes prior to or after the approval of this amendment. The monies distributed to counties, townships, and municipalities hereunder shall supplement, not supplant, monies appropriated for those counties, townships, and municipalities prior to or after the approval of this amendment. The amounts paid to the state or any county, township, or municipality pursuant to this section shall not be subject to any tax or expenditure limitation. With the exception of the foregoing six-tenths of one percent that is paid to the municipality or township in which a facility is located, and notwithstanding the requirements, limitations, or prohibitions of Article VIII, or of Sections 5, 6, and 11 of Article XII of the Ohio Constitution, all of the monies distributed to counties and municipalities in which a card room is permitted shall be, and any of the monies distributed to any other counties, townships, and municipalities may be, expended for or in support of, and be applied to any of the revitalization purposes under Section 2o of Article VIII, research and development purposes and development of sites and facilities in Ohio for and in support of industry, commerce, distribution, and research and development purposes under Section 2p of Article VIII, and any other economic development purposes authorized in Section 13 of Article VIII of the Ohio Constitution.

There is hereby created the Gaming Integrity Commission which shall regulate all gaming authorized by this section, which shall determine all voting issues by majority vote, and which shall consist of five members. Three members of the Gaming Integrity Commission shall be appointed by the governor, no more than two of whom shall be members of the same political party. One member of the Gaming Integrity Commission shall be appointed by the speaker of the house of representatives, and one member shall be appointed by the president of the senate, provided that the members appointed by the legislative leaders shall not be members of the same political party. The reasonably-estimated cost of operating the Gaming Integrity Commission shall be paid from the forgoing amounts to be paid to the counties, townships, and municipalities prior to the distribution to those counties, townships, and municipalities, provided that no more than one percent of gross card room revenue may be subtracted from the foregoing amounts to pay the reasonably-estimated cost of operating the Gaming Integrity Commission. Each facility authorized to conduct games pursuant to this section shall pay as a licensing fee an equal share of the reasonably-estimated cost of establishing the Gaming Integrity Commission. Each facility which may be authorized pursuant to this section to conduct live games associated with casinos shall pay an additional licensing fee in the amount of ten thousand dollars, which amount shall be divided equally and paid to the county in which each such facility is located and the county seat of that county, and which amount is payable upon the initial opening of the facility regardless of whether such additional games are eventually authorized, and which amount shall be expended for economic development or capital improvement projects. No other licensing fees shall be imposed upon any of the facilities authorized to conduct games pursuant to this section.

The General Assembly shall pass laws within six months of the effective date of this amendment to facilitate the operation of this amendment. If the General Assembly fails to pass such laws within six months of the effective date of this amendment, or the members of the Gaming Integrity Commission have not been appointed as provided in this section, the games authorized in this section may be conducted on and after that date under the supervision of the Lottery Commission, which shall retain such supervisory authority until the General Assembly has passed laws to facilitate the operation of this amendment and the members of the Gaming Integrity Commission have been appointed as provided in this section.

For purposes of this section, "poker" shall include any of several card games in which a player bets that the value of his or her hand is greater than that of the hands held by others.

For purposes of this section "card room" means any place, track, or enclosure where a permit holder conducts cash games or tournament poker for profit.

For purposes of this section "permitted commercial horse racing track" means any place, track, or enclosure where a permit holder conducted live horse racing for profit at a racing meeting during the two calendar years prior to the approval of this amendment, and which continues to conduct live horse racing for profit following the approval of this amendment, and includes facilities on premises contiguous to, or separated only by a roadway from, those places, tracks, or enclosures, provided that a permit holder that currently conducts racing meetings on public land may relocate the facility authorized in this section if that permit holder relocates its permitted commercial horse racing track within the same county as provided by law.

For purposes of this section, "gross card room revenue" means the total of rake collected by a card room minus the total of: (1) cash or cash equivalents paid out to patrons as a result of jackpots (2) cash paid to purchase annuities to fund prizes payable to patrons over a period of time as a result of playing poker; and (3) any personal property distributed to a patron as the result of playing poker, not excluding travel expenses, food, refreshments, lodging, or services."</font>

[cardcounter0]

1) Ohio already has a Gaming Commission, there is no need for a Gaming Integrity Commission. Who do you think oversees the lottery and the bingo games and the horse tracks already?

2) How typical of somebody from Ohio. You want to create two special locations in Cleveland. You have a whole STATE.
Cleveland is the poorest dump of a city in Ohio. It is worse than Detroit and quickly approaching East Side St. Louis.

3) Columbus has a huge commercial building structure downtown that the city owns, that is empty.

4) Cincinnati (you might have heard of it, it is on the other side of the State), has a little thing called the Ohio River running thru it, with lots of riverfront property.

A good attempt, but you don't need to create duplicate State Commissions, and if you want 80% signatures, you better think about more than Cleveland.

If you notice, most other States like to place their casinos on their borders, where they can attract patrons from OTHER states. Part of the reason Ohio is in such bad financial conditions is because of the huge amount of money that flows across it's borders to other States. West Virginia dog tracks are not there for the West Virginians coming out of the hills. The casinos in the middle of Indiania corn fields are not there for Indiana farmers. If you live in Cincy, you don't buy cigarettes until you cross the river into Kentucy, etc.

[JoseGonzlez]

I would not get too worked up this seems like he just took the language from a similar proposal to put slot machines in horse tracks that was trounced at tht polls.

2. Its not just for Cleveland. Cleveland would have two downtown locations and poker would be offered at existing horse tacks (there are at least one in Columbus and Cincinnatti.)

3. It probably has zero chance to win. The number of anti-gambling people are much higher than the people who want to play poker.

Cleveland is by far the biggest metro area in Ohio. The cities of Columbus and Cinci are comprable is size but the suburbs of Cleveland have way more people than in the other two areas. Cleveland is the poorest big city in America but the surrounding suburban areas are not poor at all.

[Berge20]

If you are serious about such an effort, you'll need to ensure that such a proposal is drafted professionally. These types of things (all across the country) run into problems during the drafting process.

Also, simple is better. You don't want to be prescribing locations b/c you'll find that support cannot be ginned up from areas that you exclude (in fact, it will spur opposition).

[CountingMyOuts]

Could this still be blocked by the Governor of Ohio, even if you got the required signatures? Gov. Strickland did state shortly after taking office that poker would not be legalized in Ohio. He's not anti-poker (his words), but prefers other means of generating revenue in the state.

Berge20 has made some very good points. Naming locations at first would likely be a big mistake, as you need to get the support lined up first. Leaving out certain locales won't help the cause. I can assure you that the proposed gambling measure in the last election was killed because locales were mentioned.

You can count on my signature.

[Emperor]

[ QUOTE ]
1) Ohio already has a Gaming Commission, there is no need for a Gaming Integrity Commission. Who do you think oversees the lottery and the bingo games and the horse tracks already?

[/ QUOTE ]

Yes Ohio has a gaming commission. However, this language was borrowed directly from the slot machine referendum from last election. Obviously to get this language on the ballot, someone thought that the lottery commission wasn't designed to handle this new responsibility. I didn't pull this out of nowhere.

[ QUOTE ]
2) How typical of somebody from Ohio. You want to create two special locations in Cleveland. You have a whole STATE.
Cleveland is the poorest dump of a city in Ohio. It is worse than Detroit and quickly approaching East Side St. Louis.

3) Columbus has a huge commercial building structure downtown that the city owns, that is empty.

4) Cincinnati (you might have heard of it, it is on the other side of the State), has a little thing called the Ohio River running thru it, with lots of riverfront property.

[/ QUOTE ]

I live near Dayton, it is closest to Cincy. I didn't add all the location information in to be discriminatory. I included it because it was in the original slot machine amendment. I figured with that much detail there must have been a reason for it.However I could be wrong.

Do you think taking out all of the location specifics would be best? Or adding more in?

[ QUOTE ]
Could this still be blocked by the Governor of Ohio, even if you got the required signatures? Gov. Strickland did state shortly after taking office that poker would not be legalized in Ohio. He's not anti-poker (his words), but prefers other means of generating revenue in the state.

[/ QUOTE ]

No the Governor cannot veto an amendment to the Constitution voted on by the electors.


Things I included in this amendment: The ability for the commission to license card rooms ANYWHERE else in the state.

Things I excluded: 30% tax on gross REVENUE (I felt this was ridiculous). 30 Million dollar licensing fee. Ohio college scholarship fund language.

No I don't feel like this would pass anytime soon. However if I had ~50 volunteers, each from a different county, willing to supervise the gathering of thousands of signatures, then I would make more of an effort to find out how to get public support for it. Getting the language correct and the Secretary of State to sign off on it won't be a problem. I have a contact or two.

Anyone have any ideas on getting popular support for it?

[JoseGonzlez]

The slot machine referendum was trounced pretty badly in Ohio last time. Poker might fair a little better but probably not much.

I did not follow to closely but i beleive one major flaw with the last bill was that it was seen as a giveaway to the horse tracks. So spereading out the licenses is one way to fix that.

The major problem is the anti-gambling forces are very strong. Meanwhile, there are not many strong pro gaming groups. Last time the supporters of the slot bill tried to frame it as a help education bill but that did not help.

The arguments for having some gaming in Ohio are good. Anyone who wants to gamble can just go to Detroit or West Virigina anyway. However, these arguments did not work last time.

[Kegs]

Part of the reason the issue failed was that the proposed scholorship program that would be funded from it came across as complete garbage. People already laugh that the lottery money goes to the schools when all it does is replace an amount in the state's budget so they can spend it on something else. The scholorship program rang just as hollow. If you're going to have gaming and funds from your gaming are going to fund something it better be worthwhile. This money seemed like a waste. They would have gotten more support if they just said "We're going to tax them nicely and use the money to help the state."

Another reason it was defeated was that you had politicans like Senator Voinovich coming out before the vote and saying that they don't care if it passes, they will make sure it never comes to be.

A third reason these continually get shot down is that it's more of a moral issue in southern Ohio and down there you can vote to defeat the bill to placate your conscience on Tuesday and easily cross the river to feed your demon on Wednesday. If you live in Cleveland you gotta drive hours to get to some crappy, overcrowded casinos and an hour longer to get to a worthwhile one.