Ohio voted on their Issue 3 yesterday in their General Election.
The issue passed with a 6 point margin. Â The final vote:
1,659,029Â For (53%)
1,471,192 Against (47%)
3,130,221
Not surprisingly, all of the Northwestern counties in Ohio voted against. Â Allen County (Lima) voted for as well as Putnam County. Â Putnam County, although a rual county, did not surprise me. Â I grew up in Van Wert and worked with many friends from the Ottoville area. Â The vote of support fits with what I remember about the attitudes then – some 20 years ago.
Now the question becomes, should Mayor Tom Henry continue his pursuit of a casino license for Fort Wayne?
Consider the statement contained in the recent Gaming Study Commitee report on the Estimates of the Fiscal Impacts from Out-of-State Casino Competition and Movement of Casino Licenses in Indiana:
[…] A gaming facility in Toledo, Ohio, could potentially compete in many of the eastern counties in the estimated market area of a Fort Wayne casino. Based on analysis of the population in these areas, it is estimated that the win from a Fort Wayne casino would decline by 17% to 18% if a Toledo gaming facility opened. This impact on the win is estimated to reduce the tax revenue impact of a Fort Wayne casino by 25% to 26%.
The reduction would bring possible revenues of $22.8 million into the State.
Weigh in on the issue of continuing the pursuit of a casino license by voting in the poll to the left, just under the banner image.
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He will keep the pressure on, he has been working for this since Jan 2008, and the face that even MORE revenue is leaving Fort Wayne now this to me confirmes we should have a casino here. It certainly cant hurt. I think there will be no referendum and he will find a way to bring it.
Webmaster’s note: This was originally posted to the Flavor of Fall post and was moved to this subject.