Columbus Dispatch: Ohio Lottery gets machines, Vets object

Vets at the Controlling Board Meeting (via @ohiocapitalblog)

In an unsurprising move on the part of the Ohio State Controlling Board, the Ohio Lottery was granted a budget expansion of $22.5 million to purchase 1,200 “next generation” electronic gaming machines from Greek manufacturer Intralot.  The Controlling Board, a bipartisan group, voted unanimously to approve the expansion, and give the lottery the chance to corner the market, and expand legalized gambling to include Ohio veterans and fraternal posts and lodges statewide.

While the Controlling Board debated the issue before ultimately rubber-stamping the budget expansion, veterans and members of local fraternal and sports clubs sat in on the meeting, hoping that the legislators on the Board would voice the opinion of vets, fraternals and local charities that have emphatically opposed the lottery’s plan in favor of other solutions, such as Ohio House Bill 325.

If for no other reason, the Controlling Board’s decision comes without resolution of pending legal actions, or further debate and testimony over the constitutionality of the Lottery’s program, or the effectiveness of other programs that benefit more than simply K-12 education, which which is the only beneficiary of the lottery program.  From the Dispatch:

Suzette Price, American Legion of Ohio service director, said after the vote that the Controlling Board “acted prematurely” by approving the lottery plan before a decision is rendered in the court case.

“They are forcing us to take an option we’re not comfortable with taking,” she said.

Sen. Tom Sawyer, D-Akron, a Controlling Board member, questioned the expansion of gambling without “the opportunity to hold hearings and call witnesses.” He said going through the Controlling Board — an approach Gov. John Kasich used successfully in expanding the state’s Medicaid program — “is a poor substitute for legislative action.”

Ohio House Bill 325, unlike the Controlling Board workaround, would clarify current law statewide after testimony and debate, and would allow posts and lodges to give money to all charities, including and certainly not limited to statewide K-12 education.