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'Cops for Casinos' Web Site Will Act as Truth Squad in Support of State Issue 3

Posted on: Tuesday, 25 August 2009, 11:43 CDT

COLUMBUS, Ohio, Aug. 25 /PRNewswire/ -- The Cops for Casinos coalition, comprised of law enforcement personnel supporting State Issue 3, today unveiled a new web site - www.copsforcasinos.com - that will allow the coalition to act as a "Truth Squad" to counteract false and misleading information being spread by opponents of the casino ballot issue.

The web site also provides information on why the coalition - led by the Fraternal Order of Police of Ohio and the Cleveland Police Patrolmen's Association - supports Issue 3 on the November statewide ballot.

FOP-Ohio and the CPPA have both cited Issue 3's benefits to Ohio, including:

• Keeping more than $1 billion a year in Ohio money in Ohio. That's the amount now being spent by Ohioans traveling to out-of-state casinos to gamble.
• Creating 34,000 new Ohio jobs at a time when the state's unemployment rate is above 11 percent.
• Providing $651 million a year in new tax revenues directly to Ohio's 88 counties, its eight largest cities, and every school district in the state.
• Investing a minimum of $1 billion in the downtown areas of Cleveland, Columbus, Cincinnati and Toledo.
  

The coalition will also provide facts to counter the claims of TruthPAC, an opposition group led MTR Gaming. MTR is a West Virginia-based casino operator whose primary motivation is to "protect its own financial interests and quash competition from Ohio," according to Charlie Luken, chairman of the Ohio Jobs and Growth Committee which is leading the effort to pass Issue 3.

"MTR's West Virginia casino has reported it gets more than 70 percent of its customers from Ohio," Luken said. "It's pretty easy to figure out why they'd be against our issue. They are one of the primary beneficiaries of the $1 billion leaving Ohio every year."

The Cops for Casinos coalition will have exclusive control of the web site's content. The Ohio Jobs and Growth Committee is providing financial support for development and maintenance of the site.

The Ohio Jobs and Growth Plan is a proposed amendment to the Ohio Constitution that authorizes first-class casinos in the state's four largest cities (Cleveland, Cincinnati, Columbus and Toledo). The plan would generate $11 billion in economic impact during construction and the first five years of casino operations. It would create 34,000 new jobs for Ohioans, and would provide an estimated $651 million in tax revenues each year for all of the state's counties, its major cities and every public school district in the state, with projected annual tax revenues rising to $772 million by 2017.

Primary backers of the proposal are:

• Penn National Gaming, Inc., a prominent operator of gaming facilities and horse racing tracks, including Raceway Park in Toledo; and
• Dan Gilbert, through his Rock Ventures partnership. Gilbert is majority owner of the NBA Cleveland Cavaliers and operator of Quicken Loans Arena in downtown Cleveland, Cleveland Clinic Courts, the Lake Erie Monsters, Veritix and Fathead, as well as Chairman and Founder of Quicken Loans, which operates a 350-person Internet web center in downtown Cleveland. Gilbert, who began investing in Ohio in 2005, employs more than 2,500 people throughout the state.
  

Pd. for by Ohio Jobs and Growth Committee, Bill Curlis, Treasurer, 865 Macon Alley, Columbus OH 43206

SOURCE Ohio Jobs and Growth Committee

Source: PR Newswire

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