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Article: Casinos in Ohio? Promise of jobs may tempt voters
- Article from:
- AP Worldstream
- Article date:
- October 18, 2009
- Author:
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Backers of a casino proposal on the November ballot are counting on Ohio's abysmal economy to win over voters in one of the nation's most stubborn anti-gambling states.
Everything about the campaign _ the state's fifth major gambling referendum in the last two decades _ centers on the jobs issue.
Unemployment in Ohio, a once-proud manufacturing mecca, has topped 10 percent. A related decline in income-tax revenue has set off a battle over balancing the state budget that lingers nearly four months into the fiscal year. Casinos could raise nearly $1 billion for the state.
The pro-casino forces _ Penn National Gaming Inc. and Cleveland Cavaliers basketball team owner Dan ...