Ohio casino campaign spending tops $31 million (Passed)

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Ohio casino campaign spending tops $31 million
The Associated Press


COLUMBUS, Ohio -- A pro-casino group in Ohio reports it has spent nearly $32 million promoting a fall ballot issue that would authorize casinos in the state's four largest cities.

A state campaign finance filing shows the Ohio Jobs & Growth Committee spent $31.7 million. Nearly all the cash came from arms of its two main backers, Penn National Gaming Inc. and Cleveland Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert.

The ballot issue asks voters to approve casino construction in Columbus, Cleveland, Cincinnati and Toledo, agree to a 33-percent tax on the facilities for state and local programs and create a state committee to oversee a type of gambling that is thus far illegal in the state.

Spending by its rival, the anti-casino TruthPAC, was not yet posted Thursday afternoon.

Ohio casino campaign spending tops $31 million - Business Wire - SunHerald.com

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Cavaliers owner presses support for casinos
October 26, 2009 13:27 EDT


KENT, Ohio (AP) -- The majority owner of the Cleveland Cavaliers is defending a plan to put casinos in four Ohio cities.

Dan Gilbert is a chief investor in the proposal. He will face an opponent during a televised debate Monday at Kent State University.

Rob Walgate, vice president of the Ohio Rountable policy group, will represent opponents of Issue 3, a ballot issue that if approved would change Ohio's Constitution and allow one casino in Cleveland, Columbus, Cincinnati and Toledo.

The debate will be taped at 4 p.m. and will air at 10 p.m. on ONN-TV, a news station that is available on cable systems in most Ohio counties.

Supporters of the November ballot amendment say casinos will create 34,000 jobs, while opponents say it will also cause jobs to be lost and would establish a lower tax rate than other states have for their casinos.

WSYX ABC 6 - Ohio News

[Soonerfan64]

We have been getting a mailing every week not to mention assorted pre-recorded messages asking you to vote in favor of issue 3. So they are going at great lengths to get this passed.

On the news tonight, the poll is 57 for and 43 percent against with 4 percent undecided so it looks as if it will finally pass.

When living/growing up in Oklahoma, I didn't ever think I would live in a state so backwards but Ohio gets the nod. I was in college before Oklahoma passed legal liquor by the drink and legalized horse racing.


Personally, I look forward to being able to play cards without a 3 hour drive.

[clevfan]

Cavs opener used to tout gaming plan

Team owner is major backer of amendment

Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Gabriel Baird
Plain Dealer Reporter

Dan Gilbert turned Tuesday's season opener for the Cleveland Cavaliers into a rally for the proposed gambling issue on the Nov. 3 ballot.

The majority owner of the Cavs, who has a lot to gain if voters adopt Issue 3, appeared on nearly every screen in The Q in an ad for the proposal that was broadcast when the Cavs were tied with the Celtics, 38-38, with 4:31 left in the second quarter.

"Keep the jobs here," he told the sold-out crowd. "Keep the tax dollars here."

But by then, fans had likely already gotten the message.

Roads leading to the Quicken Loans Arena were plastered with signs saying, "Take Charge. Yes on 3. Keep Our Money in Ohio. Create 34,000 New Jobs."

Similar signs were handed out at the entrance.

Throughout the game, pro-Issue 3 ads were broadcast to the captive audience of 20,562 via the JumboTron and TVs dotting the main concourse.

Gilbert even delivered the message personally to some season ticket holders before the sold-out game. "People gamble anyway," Gilbert told the nearly 150 season ticket holders. "We look at it as entertainment, a job creator and economic stimulus."

Gilbert, a financial backer of the proposal, has a lot to gain if voters adopt Issue 3.

Issue 3 will alter the state's constitution and give Gilbert and Penn National Gaming exclusive rights to build one casino in each of Ohio's largest cities: Cleveland, Columbus, Cincinnati and Toledo.

[clevfan]

Former Cop's Arrest Story Differs From Gilbert's Version

Oct 30, 2009
The Cleveland Leader

A former Michigan state trooper tells a different story of Dan Gilbert’s arrest on operation of gambling business than the Cavs owner has been peddling to the news media. Gilbert has made it seem a minor episode, best forgotten.

Gilbert, a billionaire of the mortgage business and owner of the Cleveland Cavaliers, has been a lead proponent of a monopoly casino issue on the November ballot. Issue 3 will give Gilbert a monopoly casino in Cleveland.

A lieutenant detective tells of the arrest of Gilbert when he was a Michigan student. He posed as the father of a gambling debtor. He said a victim told him of a strong-armed threat unless he paid. He also linked a car filled with manure to the betting business as a method of forcing collections of gambling debts.

The detective, John Fiedler recorded the meeting with Gilbert when he went to pay the debt. He said he was shown a ledger with betting data with pages of bets made, some as high as $1,000 or more.

Here is his statement in full:

My name is John Fiedler, and I was a member of the Michigan Department of State Police for 25 years.

In 1981, while I was a Detective Lieutenant in charge of the organized crime unit, the East Lansing Police asked my unit to assist them with a criminal investigation into an illegal bookmaking operation that eventually led to the arrest of Dan Gilbert.

I have read Mr. Gilbert’s explanation of what happened that day. I’m here to tell you what really happened.

East Lansing Police received a complaint from a young man who owed a significant amount of money to the bookies. It was over $1000 but I cannot remember the exact amount.

After interviewing the victim, I had him call and say that his father planned to pay his debt and arrange a meeting between the bookies and his dad. I posed as the young man’s father and entered an off-campus house where I met two men. One of them was Dan Gilbert, and Dan Gilbert did all the talking.

I was wearing a hidden recorder and transmitter and I asked him why he believed that my “son” owed him so much money. The other man left the room and returned with a ledger. He showed me all of the bets that he had made – and I got to see lists of bets that others had made. I do not remember the number of bets but several pages of the ledger book were filled.

There were $10 bets, $100 bets and even some $1,000 bets.

The victim had personally told me that Mr. Gilbert had grabbed him and pushed him up against the wall, making threats that he had better pay up. Another police officer who worked on the case said one victim who did not pay had his car filled with manure and it contained a letter threatening bodily harm.

I asked Mr. Gilbert why he felt the need to threaten my “son” and he told me that he was owed the money and my “son” refused to pay.

So I paid him the money, signaled to the East Lancing Police, and they entered the house and arrested both men.

I understand that the voters of Ohio have a big decision to make on Tuesday. When I learned Mr. Gilbert’s characterization of what happened back in 1981, I agreed to tell the people of Ohio what really transpired. Mr. Gilbert was part of a serious, organized bookmaking ring that threatened some of its victims with violence.

I am also here today because I learned that some members of Ohio’s law enforcement community believe that Issue 3 would severely limit the scope and authority of law enforcement over owners and investors of Ohio’s casinos. Based on my police experience in investigating crimes of this nature, I completely agree with concerns raised by the Ohio law enforcement community. Casinos are the type of industry that demands tough, impartial and complete oversight.

I am not here to tell Ohio voters how to vote on Issue 3. I am here to try and make sure Ohio voters have the facts they need to make an informed choice.

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Struggling Ohio Votes to Open Doors to Casinos

Ohio voters hit hard by the economic downturn vote 'yes' to casinos tied to new jobs after a fifth try by gambling supporters in the past two decades.

COLUMBUS -- Cleveland Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert said he would start first thing Wednesday making plans for the four casinos that Ohio voters wrote into the state Constitution.

"Let's start lighting it up like Las Vegas," a giddy Gilbert said Tuesday after learning of Tuesday's election results. Gilbert is a main investor in the casino plan.

Passage of Issue 3 marked a significant victory for Gilbert and Penn National Gaming Inc., who spent nearly $35 million to persuade one of America's most stubborn anti-gambling states to change its mind. It marked the fifth time in 20 years a gambling expansion was proposed in the state, with all four previous attempts rejected.

With 99 percent of precincts reporting unofficial results, Issue 3 passed 53 percent to 47 percent.

The issue amends the state Constitution by authorizing casinos in Columbus, Cleveland, Cincinnati and Toledo, sets a 33 percent tax rate and outlines how the money will be distributed. Penn National president David Wilmott predicted all four casinos would be built in a little over two years.

David Zanotti of the Ohio Policy Roundtable, an anti-gambling activist, said citizens of a state with more than 10 percent unemployment were enticed by omnipresent ads promising 34,000 jobs.

"It's pretty obvious that the Ohio electorate bought into the whole culture of despair that's going on with the economy," he said.

Ohio becomes the 39th state to legalize casinos and a coveted prize that had held out among neighboring casino states Indiana, Michigan, Pennsylvania and West Virginia. TruthPAC, backed by MTR Gaming Inc. chairman Jeffrey Jacobs, spent almost $6 million opposing the measure.

Tuesday's vote may not be the end of the story, however.

State Rep. Lou Blessing, a Republican who fought the plan, said he plans to push a ballot issue next May that amends elements of the plan, collects more taxes from the casinos, and put the licenses up for bid.

Lawmakers cannot make changes to the casino outline without going to the ballot because it was inserted into the state Constitution.

"I don't know how even the newspaper that endorsed this issue could possibly object to that," Blessing said. "There are some obvious problems that need to be fixed."

The Humane Society of the United States also vowed a future Ohio ballot issue after it was struck a blow by the passage of Issue 2, which creates a new board to oversee livestock care. The issue was approved by 64 percent of voters, with 99 percent of precincts reporting.

The issue was intended to thwart efforts by animal right groups to outlaw holding sows, hens and veal calves in cramped cages or crates.

Michael Markarian, the Humane Society's chief operating officer, said the group will return to Ohio with a future ballot measure that protects animals.

"By packaging Issue 2 as a pro-animal and pro-food safety measure, the factory farming interests really did everything they could to ensure its passage," he said. "We never really viewed it as a poisonous measure but we viewed it as an empty one, because it doesn't achieve any reforms for animal welfare."

Large farm operators mounted a $4 million campaign to pass the issue, which was backed by Gov. Ted Strickland, while environmental, animal rights and other activists fought it mostly through the press and the Internet.

Ohio voters also passed Issue 1, which will pay bonuses of up to $1,000 to war veterans who served in the Persian Gulf, Afghanistan and Iraq. It was approved by 72 percent of voters, with 99 percent of precincts reporting.

In big-city mayor's races, incumbent Democrats Mark Mallory of Cincinnati and Frank Jackson of Cleveland won re-election.

Voting went smoothly statewide except for a glitch in Summit County, which includes Akron. The county ran out of ballots around 5 p.m. and had to turn away some voters.

Poll workers contacted them and asked them to return after printing more ballots.

The casino fight attracted more than $40.6 million in spending this year -- more than the $40.1 million presidential rivals Barack Obama and John McCain spent trying to win the pivotal swing state in 2008.

TruthPAC spokeswoman Sandy Theis called it a sad day for the state.

"Many Issue 3 supporters genuinely believe it will help Ohio's economic recovery. I hope they are right. I fear they are wrong," she said. "Issue 3 is riddled with loopholes that will shortchange Ohio, muzzle the casino watchdogs and exempt cash wagers from the taxes casinos pay."

Struggling Ohio Votes to Open Doors to Casinos - FOXNews.com

[nino brown]

noticed how gilberts company was promoting the reverse mortgage to seniors. what a scumbag.

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At least Clevfan will stop getting recorded messages about crime and prostitution that a casino will bring.