An Ohio casino advocacy group says it’s come up with more than twice the number of signatures needed to put a $600 million casino project on the November ballot.

MyOhioNow presented 800,000 signatures to Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner. The signatures, reportedly from 80 of 88 Ohio counties, must now be verified.

Minneapolis-based Lakes Enter-tainment Inc. wants to build a casino resort in Clinton County near Dayton, Columbus and Cincinnati. It would include a 220,000-square-foot casino with up to 5,000 slot machines, 100 gaming tables and a 1,500-room hotel.

“We look forward to a positive and honest campaign to get the support of Ohio voters,” said MyOhioNow’s Rick Lertzman, saying the casino could create 5,000 permanent jobs and employ thousands of people during the construction phase. The group says the casino would return 30 percent of revenue to Ohio counties on a per-capita basis.

By Roger Gros

Roger Gros is publisher of Casino Connection and editor and publisher of Global Gaming Business magazine, the industry’s leading gaming trade publication. Prior to joining Global Gaming Business, Gros was president of Inlet Communications, an independent consulting firm. He was vice president of Casino Journal Publishing Group from 1984-2000, and held virtually every editorial title during his tenure. Gros was editor of Casino Journal, the National Gaming Summary and the Atlantic City Insider, and was the founding editor of Casino Player magazine. He was a co-founder of the American Gaming Summit and the Southern Gaming Summit conferences and trade shows. He is the author of the best-selling book, How to Win at Casino Gambling (Carlton Books, 1995), now in its third edition. Gros was named “Businessman of the Year” for 1998 by the Greater Atlantic City Chamber of Commerce.

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