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COLUMBUS, OHIO (AP) -- Backers of expanded gambling in Ohio are putting more chips on the table in hopes that their latest plan will pay off - finally.
Voters decided Tuesday whether to amend the state constitution to allow a $600 million casino resort in southwest Ohio near Wilmington. Ohio voters have turned down an expansion of statewide gambling three times since 1990.
Other statewide issues on the ballot included a new payday lending law that would cut the annual percentage rate that lenders can charge to 28 percent and limit the number of loans customers can take to four per year.
Supporters of Issue 6 were betting that voters would think more about Ohio's economic problems than their previous opposition to casinos and gambling. The state has lost hundreds of thousands of manufacturing jobs since 1990 and in August recorded its highest unemployment rate in 16 years at 7.4 percent.
MyOhioNow.com, a group of Cleveland-area developers backing the proposal, says the resort would create up to 5,000 jobs in an area of the state that stands to lose 10,000 jobs at an air park in Wilmington and an auto plant near Dayton.
The campaign has said all 88 counties would share casino money, promoted as $211 million a year, and that it would draw Ohioans who now have to travel to surrounding states to visit casinos.
Opponents say little-noticed language means counties would receive less money - maybe even none - if an additional casino comes to Ohio.
Ohio's new payday lending limits are among the strictest in the country
A "yes" vote on Issue 5 upholds the law. Voting "no" rejects the limits and cap on interest rates, allowing lenders to charge rates and fees that amount to a 391 percentage annual percentage rate.
Ohioans for Financial Freedom says the new law would force payday lending businesses across the state to shut down and as many as 6,000 people to be laid off. The industry argued that while loan rates multiply out to 391 percent over a year's time the percentage on a single loan is generally $15 for every $100 and 90 percent of borrowers repay their loans within two weeks.
Backers of the law say such loans are defective products that trap borrowers into a cycle of debt. Borrowers typically end up with 12 or more loans each year, according to the committee backing the proposal. The new law gives borrowers more time to pay off loans and helps make small loans more affordable.
Voters also were asked to approve Issue 2, a $400 million jobs program that is part of the state's economic stimulus plan. The proposal would allow the state to issue bonds to pay for conservation of natural open spaces and the environmental revitalization of other lands.
The other two initiatives are proposed constitutional amendments.
Issue 3 would strengthen landowners' rights to make "reasonable use" of water that runs on or through a property. It was proposed alongside the recently approved Great Lakes Water Compact, which strengthens legal protections for the use of water from the five Great Lakes and their connecting channels.
Issue 1 would require an earlier filing deadline for statewide ballot issues. Citizen-initiated petitions for the issues would need to be submitted at least 125 days before an election as opposed to 60 days for state referendums or 90 days for constitutional amendments.
(Copyright ©2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
