COLUMBUS — Gambling activists say they'll oppose efforts to expand state-sanctioned gaming, including video slot machines at Ohio's horse racetracks, possible online lottery games and a potential tribal casino near Dayton.

"We'll be in the Legislature, absolutely," David Zanotti, president and chief executive officer of the Ohio Roundtable, said Tuesday. The Roundtable is a public policy group based in the Cleveland suburb of Strongsville.

"We'll be here every step of the way and are going to be the voice that continues to assert that state legislators and citizens need to understand that expanding gambling causes more harm than good," said the Rev. John Edgar, chairman of the Anti-Gambling Task Force of the United Methodist Church.

"It's dreadful public policy," Edgar said.

Bill planned

Nevertheless, state Sen. Louis W. Blessing Jr., a Cincinnati Republican, has said he intends to reintroduce a bill that would allow video slot machines at racetracks. The bill died in the previous Legislature that ended in December.

Estimates say video slot machines at horse racing tracks would generate about $500 million a year for the state.

State Sen. Robert Gardner, a Madison Republican, has introduced a bill that would allow Internet lottery games. The bill is pending in the Senate Finance and Financial Institutions Committee.

"We remain resolute," said Edgar. "We are not going away." Gambling opponents say they'll fight any attempt in the Legislature to expand gambling and haven't ruled out additional legal action against the state if it moves forward with any attempt to bring video slot machines to the tracks.

Gambling opponents have already challenged in court Ohio's entry into the MegaMillions lottery game. The case is pending in the 10th District Court of Appeals.

State lawmakers granted permission in December 2001 for the state lottery commission to enter into a multistate game to help bolster Ohio's sagging budget.

Tribal gaming

Gambling opponents fear that any further expansion will ultimately lead to Indian tribal gaming in Ohio.

Reports have circulated that an American Indian tribe may be looking at more than one Ohio location, including Botkins, about 50 miles north of Dayton, as a potential site for a tribal casino.

In Youngstown, a local committee had reportedly been in contact with representatives of the Wyandot Indian tribe, which allegedly had been interested in starting a casino in the Mahoning Valley in Northeast Ohio. But that proved to be false.

Indian tribes operate about 300 casinos in 29 states, but none in Ohio, where gambling casinos are illegal.

Gov. Bob Taft, a Republican, has opposed efforts to expand gambling to generate revenue. Twice in the 1990s, Ohioans defeated statewide attempts to legalize casino gambling.

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