Ohio Bar Owners Propose Local Approval for Slot Machines

Will slot machines be allowed in Ohio bars, restaurants, bingo halls, and veterans clubs? Below is an excerpt detailing the latest in the fight for slots to be legal.

From the Cleveland Plain Dealer:

Is there room for yet another player in the high-stakes, backroom discussions on whether Ohio should expand gambling?

Tavern owners hope so, and they think they have a winning hand that could appease gambling critics, including the governor - a plan that would require a vote of the people and wouldn't rewrite the state's constitution.

Groups representing liquor-serving establishments are floating a plan in the state legislature that could allow more than 80,000 Ohio Lottery-authorized slot machines in bars, restaurants and bingo and veterans halls and at horse-racing tracks.

Under the plan, residents of cities, villages and neighborhoods would decide whether they want the table-top games at their corner bars in precinct-by-precinct votes - the same process used to determine where Sunday liquor sales are allowed in Ohio.

For the complete story, please see Reginald Fields, Ohio bar owners propose letting local communities vote to approve slot machines, The Cleveland Plain Dealer, April 26, 2009.