In a near unanimous vote of six to one, The Ohio State Supreme Court ruled that a plan to use video lottery terminals, a system of online gambling, to be placed in race tracks and presumably river boats casinos is subject to a voter referendum. This is largely in response to conservative political group LetOhioVote.org’s law suit earlier this month.
Video lottery terminals or VLT’s are the online gambling equivalent of the lottery scratch off card. It is similar to a slot machine. The main difference is that is connected to a centralized computer system that predetermines the payout by using a random number generator, instead of ones operating in individual machines used in casinos. The similarity between the video lottery terminals and the scratch off cards is the total amount and number of payouts are programmed in advance.
The lone dissenting voice on the bench, Justice Paul Pfeifer, argued the plan was an appropriation, a feeling shared by Ohio’s Democratic Governor, Ted Strickalnd. The governor’s office expressed that because it the plan is included in a budget bill passed by the General Assembly as a revenue provision, it was not subject to public referendum. He feels if the bill was successful it could bring the states sagging economy over $930 million in taxes over a two year period. Justice Pfeifer wrote, “The video lottery terminal legislation is at the very heart of the budget bill, at the very heart of how Ohio is going to pay for its spending over the next two years.” However it is easy to see how conservatives feel this would be a system of online gambling, and already hot topic nationwide.
“We are not unmindful of the effect our decision may have on the state budget nor of the commendable efforts of the members of the executive and legislative branches of state government to fulfill their constitutional duties to balance the budget in Ohio,” wrote Justice Terrence O’Donnell. So unless the referendum is passed, citizens of Ohio will have to get their online gambling fix the old fashioned way, on a virtual casino while sipping lattes at your local coffee shop.
