Cleveland, Columbus, Cincinnati and Toledo

Can the aging industrial cities of New York state be far behind?



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Cleveland casino planning begins
Saturday, March 6, 2010
By John Arthur Hutchison
JHutchison@News-Herald.com

Officials planning a new casino in Cleveland still anticipate a groundbreaking as soon as this fall.

However, the grand opening has been postponed slightly to early 2013, a few months later than an earlier timeline of fall 2012, said Jennifer Kulczycki, spokeswoman for Rock Ventures.

There also has been some discussion about the possibility of establishing a temporary casino before the new full-service casino opens, Kulczycki said.

“A number of elected officials and other Cleveland area leaders have asked Rock Ventures to consider an interim solution to get tax revenue working for the city, region and state more quickly,” she said. “Rock Ventures agreed to look at the viability of this request, but remains committed to investing more than $400 million in the development project. We are still in the review process.”

Rock Ventures is the entity that will oversee the casino’s development for Cleveland Cavaliers majority owner Dan Gilbert.

The company partnered with Penn National Gaming to back Issue 3, and will develop the Cleveland and Cincinnati casino sites.

Statewide voters on Nov. 3 approved Issue 3 — a constitutional amendment to legalize full-service casino gambling at four locations: Cleveland, Columbus, Cincinnati and Toledo.

The ballot victory came after four previous initiatives were defeated by Ohio voters.

The Cleveland casino is expected to include slots and table games.

Gilbert has secured an option on a parcel of land on the east bank of the Cuyahoga River for the casino to be built.

That option is slated to be exercised later this year when architects, engineers and developers are expected to be hired, Kulczycki said.

The parcel is adjacent to The Avenue shopping mall and Gateway complex that includes Quicken Loans Arena and Progressive Field.

Rock Ventures soon plans to secure a casino operator, who will influence many of the design and development decisions, and will ultimately manage the day-to-day operations of the Cleveland casino, Kulczycki said. The goal is to make that choice this spring.

“We have not yet selected an operator but we are hard at work making our selection,” she said.

There also are some legal aspects that still need to be addressed before gamblers can roll the dice.

“The (Ohio) General Assembly is required to pass legislation implementing the provisions of the new Constitutional amendment by early June 2010,” Kulczycki said. “And the governor must appoint the seven members of the Ohio Casino Control Commission, as specified in the Constitution, who will issue the licenses.”

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Massachusetts senate to debate casino bill
Wed Apr 15, 2009 4:53pm EDT

BOSTON (Reuters) - The president of the Massachusetts state senate said lawmakers will debate in the autumn a bill allowing casinos in Massachusetts, reviving legislation that could deliver much-needed revenue.

Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick has long advocated expanding gaming but a bill was blocked by the former speaker of the state House of Representatives, Salvatore DiMasi, whose replacement, Robert DeLeo, supports casino gambling.

"The speaker, myself and the governor have all discussed gaming. We are all in belief that we will do a gaming bill and there will be a gaming bill out probably in the fall," said state Senate president Therese Murray.

"To see that over $900 million leaves the Commonwealth (of Massachusetts) every year and goes to Connecticut and Rhode Island for gaming, I think that even if we pick up $700 million of that we would all take that," she told a Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce breakfast on Wednesday.

Patrick has said casinos would generate billions of dollars of construction-related spending and tens of thousands of construction and other jobs, along with $400 million in revenue annually net of expected public safety and health costs.

Murray said the state Senate would have passed a casino bill last year if the House had not blocked it.

(Reporting by Kevin McNicholas. Writing by Jason Szep, Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)

The only issue I have with gambling coming to more and more states is that they never seem to be able to use the revenue the way they say it will be used. I love the way they say "no" to a casino and then hold the lottery (for "education"--who is against that, right?). My opinion is that you either have gambling or you don't have it. Once you allow the lottery, allow casinos.

I haven't liked any casino I have been in outside of Vegas as much as even my least-favorite Vegas casinos. There is just something about being THERE that makes the trip so much more than a trip to a casino "on the way to Florida" or somewhere else...

what the future landscape for gambling in the US is going to look like is just mind-boggling to me.

I keep thinking the competition is going to produce interesting things.

Quote: odiousgambit

what the future landscape for gambling in the US is going to look like is just mind-boggling to me.

I keep thinking the competition is going to produce interesting things.

I see one possibility that a state is going to try to leapfrog the traditional building of casinos by granting licenses to existing bars and restaurants to allow them to install wireless systems. They can distribute devices built by Cantor Gaming to their guests, or they will probably be allowed to use their i-phones.

The governments of Quebec, British Columbia, and Atlantic Canada are going to offer an online sports and poker site. Given that about 60% of the world's online gambling servers are located about 10 miles from downtown Montreal, I don't see a problem with the governments in Canada getting in on online gambling.

Link to Bodog founder article

Quote: CTV News

Morris operates Bodog out of Kahnawake -- still one of the major online gaming sites on the Internet. And Bodog is not the only betting site hosted on the Mohawk reserve. Kahnawake has established itself as a major player in the global Internet gambling trade, with approximately 60 per cent of the world's gaming websites hosted on computer servers on the reserve. Kahnawake Mohawk Territory is the Las Vegas, Atlantic City and Monaco of the online gambling world, all combined.

Even though the Canadian Criminal Code clearly outlaws private online gambling sites, Kahnawake's leaders insist that its special First Nations status places it outside that law.

"Although the Criminal Code may say one thing, the Canadian constitution says quite another, and so does the Canadian Indian Act," explained Chuck Barnett, spokesperson for Mohawk Internet Technologies, or MIT, which runs the giant computer servers.

Here's the government's argument for allowing people to gamble. Full article here

Quote: CBC News

The potential social costs for young adults are particularly grim, suggested Danielle Doyer, the Parti Québécois ’s critic for social services. She accused the Liberal government, which approved Loto-Québec's entry into the online market, of ignoring the costs in favour of financial gain.

But Loto-Québec argues Quebeckers already have access to more than 2,000 online gambling sites that are "illegal, unregulated and often of doubtful integrity," said Loto-Québec president and CEO Alain Cousineau in a press release.

"This is a way for us to channel the gaming offering in a controlled circuit and environment whose integrity will be beyond reproach," Cousineau said.

The site will require players to verify their age, limit their weekly account replenishments and allow players to "self-exclude at all times," he said.

He also cited a public health study that showed no increase in problematic gamblers in Quebec between 1996 and 2002, suggesting the proportion of the population addicted to gambling always remains the same, regardless of the number of gambling outlets.