Casino Backers Confident of Vote

FROM: Cincinnati Enquirer

BY: Jon Craig

COLUMBUS – Developers who want to build the state’s first casino just north of Cincinnati say they have enough signatures to present the issue to voters in November.
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The backers of a $600 million casino-resort in Clinton County are expected to file nearly double the 402,225 voters’ signatures needed Tuesday to place a statewide ballot initiative before voters on Nov. 4. Voter approval is needed.

The casino would be in Wilmington, off Interstate 71, just beyond the Warren County line.

The “My Ohio Now” pro-casino campaign is entirely paid for by a Minnesota company, according to finance reports filed with the Secretary of State’s office last week.

My Ohio Now listed contributions of $2.66 million, and about the same level of expenses, on its latest campaign finance report.

Dr. Bradford A. Pressman and Rick Lertzman, co-founders of My Ohio Now, propose a 1,500-room hotel, restaurants, bars, retail stores and casino with 5,000 slot machines.

Lertzman said he’s comfortable that there are enough extra signatures if invalid signatures are rejected. Signatures are needed from 44 of Ohio’s 88 counties. My Ohio Now collected signatures in 80 counties, Lertzman said.

If approved by a majority of voters Nov. 4, the casino could open about 18 months later, Lertzman said. Ohio voters have rejected casinos three times since 1990.

All the proceeds for the pro-casino campaign came from Lakes Entertainment INCC of Minnetonka, Minn., which operates Indian-owned casinos. Lyle Berman is chief executive officer of Lakes Entertainment. He invented the televised World Poker Tour. Berman’s company would operate the new Ohio casino, according to Lertzman.

The full text of the ballot initiative and more details about the project can be at www.MyOhioNow.com