Casinos Coming to Ohio?

[Unassisted]

http://www.dispatch.com/news-story.p...125-A1-02.html

Tribe plans to propose deal to build Ohio casinos Shawnee leader hopes to sway governor by first convincing legislators
Tuesday, January 25, 2005
Joe Hallett
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH


A Shawnee Indian chief is on a mission this week to persuade state leaders to grant his tribe authority to build Las Vegas-style casinos in Ohio, including one in the Columbus area.

Charles Enyart, chief of the Eastern Shawnee Tribe of Oklahoma, said yesterday that the tribe hopes to build an undisclosed number of casino resorts that would pump hundreds of millions of dollars into the economy and help offset an estimated state budget deficit of as much as $5 billion.

"We would provide many, many jobs," Enyart, 68, said. "We’d be a good neighbor. With the state, we’d provide help with their budget problems."

Enyart said he will propose a compact with legislative leaders and Gov. Bob Taft under which the tribe would share a percentage of the casinos’ take in exchange for the right to operate Class 3 — Las Vegas-style — casinos.

"We want to work with the governor and legislature to go that route," he said.

Federal law permits Indian tribes to enter such compacts with governors. Ohio law also requires approval from the General Assembly. Currently, only Class 2 gambling, mostly bingo, is permitted in the state.

If the state declines to enter a compact with the Shawnees, the tribe could petition the federal Bureau of Indian Affairs for a claim to ancestral lands in Ohio. If successful, the land would be recognized as a sovereign nation, per- mitting the tribe to establish Class 2 gambling operations, with no requirement to pay state and local taxes or share gambling proceeds.

Taft opposes casinos in Ohio, but Enyart is hopeful the governor will change his mind if the tribe can elicit support from the legislature.

"The governor is opposed to expanding gambling in the state," said Orest Holubec, Taft’s spokesman. "He believes the social ills outweigh the potential financial gain. He also doesn’t view gambling revenue as a stable revenue source, nor do bond-rating agencies."

The tribe has hired Terry Casey, former executive director of the Franklin County GOP, and Mary Anne Sharkey, Taft’s former communications director, to help convince the governor and lawmakers that the state would benefit from casinos.

"We’re starting with the legislature during budget negotiations," Sharkey said, adding that "hundreds of millions of dollars" could be made available to the state beginning in July 2006, the second year of the upcoming biennial budget, if the casinos are approved.

The Shawnee tribe already has announced hopes of building casino resorts in Butler and Shelby counties. Enyart said the tribe expects to announce a central Ohio site for a casino resort in about a month.

Because of opposition from Mayor Michael B. Coleman and other community leaders, the tribe is scouting for a site outside of Columbus city limits, Casey said.

Holubec said the tribe has yet to request a meeting with the governor’s office. Enyart will meet today and Wednesday with legislative leaders, Sharkey said, although she declined to name them.

During an earlier visit to Columbus, Enyart pitched the casino plan to House Speaker Jon Husted, R-Dayton. Enyart said he assured Husted that lobbying efforts by the tribe would be scandal-free.

"We don’t go into any community that doesn’t want us," Enyart said. "Secondly, everything has to be aboveboard. We don’t want any problems."

Casey said a number of mayors and county commissioners in Ohio have asked about siting one of the Shawnee casino resorts in their communities.

The 666-member Oklahoma tribe operates a 660-seat bingo casino in Oklahoma near the border with Missouri.

The tribe also is the majority shareholder in a bank in Seneca, Mo., he said.

"We’re a very progressive tribe," he said. "We’re small but very much on the move."

[Brutus_the_Red]

I don't see what the big issue is with casinos? If they want to build, and help fix this horrible state deficit, i say let them. i think the growth of poker and gambling as a whole through television and society has made laws against them a moot point.

It's not like the casino's in Indiana have wrecked the state, and i bet nearly everyone of age in dayton/columbus/cincinnati have been to the riverboats.

go for it :gac:

[Redsfaithful]

If the state declines to enter a compact with the Shawnees, the tribe could petition the federal Bureau of Indian Affairs for a claim to ancestral lands in Ohio. If successful, the land would be recognized as a sovereign nation, per- mitting the tribe to establish Class 2 gambling operations, with no requirement to pay state and local taxes or share gambling proceeds.

I don't know if that petition would have a good chance of being successful, but if it would then Ohio better jump on this while it can.

Opposing gambling is kind of stupid since Ohio residents just go to West Virginia, Indiana, and Michigan anyway. If people are going to do it you might as well let them spend the money in-state and reap the benefits in jobs and taxes.

[WVRed]

We stole their land, and they are slowly getting it back, piece by piece.

-Rodney Carrington

[RedFanAlways1966]

I dislike the whole notion of gambling. Lots of people who cannot afford it (and look for that one big payday) are spending their money trying to hit it big. However, this state already has a Lotto and has gambling casinos right next door. If Ohio people want to "legally gamble", then it is very easy to do. So I'd just assume that Ohio get a chunk of that money that is going to Indiana. That is... if Ohio schools would get some of the profit.

I find it hard to believe that there are casinos in this country that have not been touched by mafia-types. Hand-in-hand... Native American involvement or not. But anyone who has researched this topic will tell you the same. Even in today's world. But I don't know. I just know the history of casinos and gambling.

Explain to me how it is fair for a 666-member tribe (from Okla.) to open and operate casinos throughout our entire country? Why can't I open one too? Is it discrimination towards me or my race? Is it a double-standard (imagine that)? I do not like the idea of a tribe from Oklahoma reaping profits from a casino in my state. Why not have the darn state open and run the thing? Why should our money go to Oklahoma and a 666-member tribe there? Sometimes the laws just make no sense to me.

If the state declines to enter a compact with the Shawnees, the tribe could petition the federal Bureau of Indian Affairs for a claim to ancestral lands in Ohio. If successful, the land would be recognized as a sovereign nation, per- mitting the tribe to establish Class 2 gambling operations, with no requirement to pay state and local taxes or share gambling proceeds.

Does this sound fair and legal? It doesn't to me. To bring back an old Wicky-Wacky Sam phrase, "You don't live in Ohio, you live in Oklahoma." NO REQUIREMENT TO PAY STATE & LOCAL TAXES OR SHARE PROCEEDS. Real fair.

[REDREAD]

Actually 1996, you raise good points. If the state is going to be forced to let the Indians open up a casino, they might as well open it up to everyone.

I really don't think the country needs any more casinos, IMO they cause more harm than good and ruin too many lives. So, I hope the Indians fail.

Many times the government lets these things start under the pretense of 'helping the schools', but after a few years, the money gets syphoned off to other things. There's better ways to fix the state deficit.. cut waste.

[Redsfaithful]

Aren't the Shawnee orginally from Ohio? Before we forcibly moved them? I think that's why they can try this, but I'm honestly not sure.

[RosieRed]

Originally Posted by RedFanAlways1966

Explain to me how it is fair for a 666-member tribe (from Okla.) to open and operate casinos throughout our entire country? Why can't I open one too? Is it discrimination towards me or my race? Is it a double-standard (imagine that)? I do not like the idea of a tribe from Oklahoma reaping profits from a casino in my state. Why not have the darn state open and run the thing? Why should our money go to Oklahoma and a 666-member tribe there? Sometimes the laws just make no sense to me.

Does this sound fair and legal? It doesn't to me. To bring back an old Wicky-Wacky Sam phrase, "You don't live in Ohio, you live in Oklahoma." NO REQUIREMENT TO PAY STATE & LOCAL TAXES OR SHARE PROCEEDS. Real fair.

From here.

Originally the Shawnee were believed to be located in Southern Ohio, West Virginia and Western Pennsylvania. In the mid 1600s the Iroguois, from the north, drove them from their homes and they were scattered to the Carolinas, Tennessee, Eastern Pennsylvania and Southern Illinois. Later, just before the mid 1700s, they manage to return to their homelands only to be driven out again. This time by the European invaders who were bent on settling this new land and claiming it as their own.

Currently there are more than 14,000 Shawnee located on reservations in four distinct groups The absentee Shawnee, the Eastern Shawnee and the Cherokee Shawnee, with the Cherokee Nation, all of which are in Oklahoma. The largest of these groups is what is called the Loyal Shawnee who were incorporated into the Cherokee in the 1860s. They received the name "Loyal" for having served the union during the Civil War.

The fourth is called the Shawnee Nation Remnant Band which is said to have descended from the Ohio Shawnee. Although not recognized by the federal government nor accepted by the other three groups of Shawnee, they were officially recognized by the State of Ohio in 1980 and purchased close to 200 acres near Urbana and Chillicothe. This group appears to have managed to avoid removal during the 1830s.

Not that that explains everything, and the Shawnee in question probably aren't in the fourth group.

Regardless, lots of things weren't and aren't fair when it comes to how Native Americans were and are treated in this country. If a tribe from Oklahoma wants and can open a casino in Ohio, fine by me. Especially if the state is going to keep opposing casinos.

[REDREAD]

Just curious, but does anyone really know how much of the casino profits trickle down to the rank-and-file tribal members, vs the coorporations that run the casinos? I have no idea, just wondering.

[Redsfaithful]

Originally Posted by REDREAD

Just curious, but does anyone really know how much of the casino profits trickle down to the rank-and-file tribal members, vs the coorporations that run the casinos? I have no idea, just wondering.

I believe a lot. I read an article about a tribe not too long ago, and all of their members were covered from cradle to grave with health insurance, tuition, etc. I'll see if I can find it.

[Redsfaithful]

I found this:

http://www.mnindiangaming.com/template_info.cfm?page=6

In an effort to ensure that gaming revenues would produce substantive benefits for Indian tribes, Congress wrote into the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act specific restrictions on the use of Indian gaming revenues. Authorized uses include infrastructure improvements; education; health care; social services; economic development and diversification. Tribal gaming revenues are allocated for these purposes by the duly elected government officials of each tribe, just as state legislators and members of Congress establish budgets for their respective governmental units.

And this is crazy:

http://www.cincypost.com/news/1998/fox080198.html

Though located in a bucolic region reachable only by a two-lane blacktop road, Foxwoods owes much of its success to being within 2 1/2 hours driving time of nearly 10 percent of the nation's population. It counts New York City, Boston and much of New England in its customer base, but also has become a major destination resort for other gamblers.

Originally scheduled to operate 18 hours daily, the casino has never closed since opening in February 1992, now drawing an average of 50,000 visitors daily and weekend crowds approaching 75,000.

It netted $100 million its first year, boasts an operating margin of 45 percent (nearly double that of Atlantic City casinos) and grosses over $1 billion annually - about $1.8 million for each of the 570 Pequots, nearly half of whom live on the reservation.

[RosieRed]

I've been to Foxwoods. Nice place. When I was there (years ago) they didn't serve alcohol, but that may have since changed.

[RedFanAlways1966]

Originally Posted by RosieRed

Regardless, lots of things weren't and aren't fair when it comes to how Native Americans were and are treated in this country. If a tribe from Oklahoma wants and can open a casino in Ohio, fine by me. Especially if the state is going to keep opposing casinos.

I understand your point. However, I wonder how much suffering today's "casino revenue grabbers" have been dealt in their lives? I know for a fact that this Ohioan has not caused suffering to any Native Americans. And how long do we (me included) have to payback for things our ancestors, many-many generations removed, did to Native Americans who have passed away long ago? Forever?

Tax free... that really burns me. Esp. if you have resided in Ohio for the last year or so. Why in the world should they get tax-freedom on this revenue? When I read what RF posted (the revenues) above here and think tax-free... it makes me sick. Giving Native Americans the right to build casinos on ancient holy-land is one thing, but to give it tax-exemption is just too much payback for what our ancestors did.

[paintmered]

Is this the same tribe that thought they could reclaim Indian Hill?

[Unassisted]

Ohioans, don't forget that your governor is looking under chair cushions for money right now. Plus, he's a term-limited lame duck. The Indians (that's what the ones I know like to be called) are visiting the Statehouse at a very opportune time, since any proposal they bring to the table will bring $$$ into the state coffers.