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New Lawsuit on VLT's Will Hinge on Single Narrow Issue

By The Pullins Group LLC

My friend and attorney Kari B. Hertel, on behalf of the Ohio Roundtable and others has filed suit challenging the constitutionality of the statute and rules implementing VLT's at Ohio's 7 horse tracks.  The complaint is quite lengthy of course, but in my opinion a decision will hinge on one narrow issue which can be found in paragraph 37 of the complaint.  Full complaint is here.

37. Because the General Assembly did not and does not have the authority to authorize a state agency to operate anything other than a "lottery," the Statutes and Rules are unconstitutional.

In my humble opinion, this assertion is fatally flawed.  Ohio's constitution prohibits lotteries in Ohio unless they are conducted by a state agency, i.e., the Ohio Lottery Commission.  However, no where in the constitution is there any prohibition against gambling, i.e., slot machines, roulette, craps, card games etc.

Gambling, with some exceptions like horse track betting, bingo, and charitable gaming is prohibited by the Ohio General Assembly by statute.  At any time, the Ohio General Assembly can legalize gambling, other than a lottery.  In fact, if they wanted, they could pass a law allowing slot machines in every home and business in Ohio.

This is similar to what happened here.  The Ohio General Assembly passed a bill  that amended the statute that prohibits gambling to allow slot machines at Ohio's 7 horse tracks.  They authorized the program to be overseen by the Ohio Lottery Commission, an agency of this state.  If they wanted to, they could have authorized me to oversee the program, but a state agency probably makes a little more sense.

At the same time, anything can happen when this issue goes to the Ohio Supreme Court.  The justices may find the argument that voters have consistently rejected  these proposals to be a compelling one.

Full post as published by The Pullins Report on September 04, 2009 (boomark / email).