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Hold Your Bets on Indian Gaming Facility in Valley
"By George Nelson Gamblers: Don't place your bets on a casino coming to Lordstown just yet. Despite reports of an imminent deal on a casino site in Mahoning and Trumbull counties, a representative of the Eastern Shawnee tribe told The Business Journal Wednesday that the tribe is considering a number of locations in the Mahoning Valley for one of five to seven casinos it plans to develop in Ohio. "We know there is strong interest in the Mahoning Valley," says Terry Casey, a consultant for the Eastern Shawnee Tribe. "We are evaluating what site would work best, and once we get it under contract, then we'll make a public announcement and explain what can happen here and why."Representatives of the Eastern Shawnee Tribe met last week with several area state representatives and senators last week, and Casey, a former executive director of the Franklin County Republican Party, said their enthusiasm was "huge." The Mahoning Valley hadn't initially been considered for a site before being contacted by local public officials, Casey said. Casino locations already have been announced near at Exit 29 of Interstate 75, between Dayton and Cincinnati, and at Exit 102, halfway between Dayton and Toledo. According to a report Wednesday in the Plain Dealer, a tribal representative met Monday with Cleveland Mayor Jane Campbell to discuss locating a casino in that city. At their Web site www.shawneeohioresorts.com, the tribe says it wants to develop five to seven casinos in the state, including the two announced sites, though Casey said the tribe could build up to nine casinos in the state, a total investment of upwards of $2 billion. "There's pension funds, Wall Street, and other tribes that would love to invest in Ohio, because Ohio is literally the last prize left in America in terms of a big audience of people who want to gamble but don't have the type of facility people want to use," Casey said. The tribal chief, Charles Enyart, who met last week with state officials, doesn't want to come to Ohio an develop "run-of-the-mill facilities" filled with slot parlors when that type of facility is available at nearby Mountaineer, he elaborated."Across America there is a lot of Indian gaming," Casey said. "Some tribes have done it well, while others' facilities are nothing more than cement block buildings with slot machines crammed into them. "What this tribe wants to bring to Ohio is a model that's succeeded in a number of states -- a resort destination, dining, lodging, recreation, retail complex -- all the good stuff people like," he said. Depending on the site, the tribe is considering a $200 million resort facility for the Mahoning Valley that would create a minimum of 2,000 jobs., according to Casey. The Shawnee, Casey said ,had a significant presence in western and central Ohio, but if they were to establish a compact with the state -- which would include an agreement to share gaming proceeds with the state -- it would give the tribe more location options. Such an agreement could mean revenues for the state in the hundreds of millions of dollars. "There are several different ways the tribe can go as far as what they might do in Ohio, but what's worked out in most states is a compact where tribes share money with the state" he said. "Clearly, right now the state is in significant need of dollars and jobs." In 1990 and 1996, Ohio voters turned down initiatives to expand gambling beyond what is currently allowed in the state and Gov. Bob Taft has on several occasions expressed his opposition to expanding gambling in the state. Casey said the governor has raised "some legitimate concerns and questions," including whether the social costs of having gambling outweigh the benefits as well as the reliability of revenues from gambling, and his group is working on pulling together some numbers for him.Most of the states surrounding Ohio already offer some form of legalized gambling, as does Canada to the north, and Ohioans currently are traveling to casinos in those locations. State Rep. Sandra Stabile Harwood of Niles said the state is already coping with the social ills associated with gambling but doesn't have the money to address them. "We're looking at a very tough budget. We need to look at all options," Harwood said, estimating that an Indian casino in the Mahoning Valley could mean 2,500-3,000 jobs paying between $30,000-$40,000, with health care benefits."I'm doing whatever I can to see there are jobs and opportunities for our area, and if this is what they're going to do, I want to make sure constituents and taxpayers get their fair share," said state Sen. Bob Hagan of Youngstown. Hagan said there has been "a sea change of support for this simply because we're facing a $5 billion deficit in the state."The location being discussed is primarily in Trumbull County and partially in Mahoning County, said state Sen. Marc Dann of Liberty. He said the state currently is walking away from a billion dollars a year in gambling money.Hagan, who said tribe representatives were going to make an announcement regarding the exact piece of property in two weeks, also said he encouraged them to consider a downtown Youngstown location, possibly near the Youngstown Convocation Center under construction. "I actually said to them we have a convocation center that's begging for attention and if they didn't like that we have free land in the downtown area -- or nearly free land -- that is right along the [Mahoning River] but they wanted access to the turnpike, they wanted access to the highway," Hagan said. In addition, he said the tribe felt a rural area would be better for their needs and are looking at acquiring 25-50 acres for the proposed casino. In the past, opposition to proposals to expand gaming has been led by Ohio religious leaders, and the so-called values voters credited with giving President Bush Ohio's electoral votes in 2004. However, Hagan noted that Ohio is a "red state" in another respect -- in terms of red ink in the state budget. Though Ohio law currently restricts the kinds of gambling allowed in the state, Casey said federal law signed by Ronald Reagan in 1988 trumps state law. The Indian Gaming Regulatory Act requires tribes to negotiate with states concerning games of chance to be played on their historic lands. If the governor and the legislature don't sit down and negotiate a deal with the Eastern Shawnee, the tribe will go to the federal government and stake an ancestral claim to the land, Hagan said. If that happens, Dann said, the tribe could conduct any activity allowed in Ohio on the site, such as offering bingo or making cigarettes. "The worst that will happen is that they'll own some land and they'll have one hell of a bingo parlor. We play a lot of bingo here," he said. "Also, the upside is huge." Harwood noted that the federal route would also mean no sharing of gaming proceeds with state government, and no local or state taxes. The Harvard Project on American Indian Economic Development recently released a study based on census data disclosing that tribes have benefited substantially from gaming operations. Gaming tribes, according to the report, increased their median household by 35% between 1990 and 2000, compared with a 14% increase in income for non-gaming tribes, though median incomes for Indians remain just under half that of the U.S. population as a whole.But an article appearing yesterday in The Desert Sun of Palm Springs, Calif., indicated that benefits to California haven't materialized as expected. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger had predicted that the state would get $300 million this year in deals with five tribes. Instead, California expects to get only $16 million this year and another $34 million in fees, the newspaper reported. Visit the Eastern Shawnee Tribe at www.shawneetribe.orgContact George Nelson at [email protected]"