Their View: Ohio voters did right thing, hopefully Keystone's will too
Only a week after voters in Ohio once again made clear their opposition to the expansion of legalized gaming in the Buckeye State, thousands of residents of Pennsylvania were moving in entirely the opposite direction as the Keystone State's first slot-machine parlor opened, and gamblers seeking easy money poured through the doors.
The Mohegan Sun at Pocono Downs near Wilkes-Barre has almost 1,100 gambling machines on two floors, plus a bar and restaurants. But that's just the beginning.
Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell describes the casino as a step toward providing property-tax relief. But at what cost? That's the issue raised by opponents of gaming, including the head of CasinoFreePa, who said “convenience gambling is the worst gambling.”
The defeat of Issue 3 on Nov. 7 showed that Ohioans were able to sift through the verbiage and the smokescreens, and see the proposal for exactly what it was: A scheme to boost gaming, to fatten the wallets of gambling operators, and start on the slippery slope to full-fledged gambling casinos in Ohio by permitting two in Cleveland.
- The (Toledo) Blade
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