What
happens to local distribution of Ohio's gambling tax revenues when
Racinos (race track casinos) all
come on line? Horse racing
tracks located near Lebanon,
Columbus, Cleveland, Youngstown,
Cincinnati and Dayton will
or have
opened
racinos. Racinos provide
slot machine style gambling.
A
major portion of casino
state
revenue is shared by the counties and
school districts while racino revenue is not distributed to local
governments, only to schools. It is becoming evident that many racino gamblers are
former casino customers because local government shares are
declining.
By
law, casino taxes are allocated to schools in addition to state aid.
But racino
profits that are
funneled through the lottery commission could be offset by lower
state education assistance. There's a
guarantee
it's coming to public schools. Whether it's new money to public
schools is a different question.
In
October 2013 Clinton County received $130,000 casino tax
distribution. In Janurary 2014 the county's share fell to $127,000
Paul
Hunter
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