From the Plain Dealer, January 16, 2002
Sandy Theis
Plain Dealer Bureau Chief

- As Ohio decides which multistate lottery game to join - Powerball or the Big Game - a new coalition hopes to end all state-sponsored gambling in Ohio, including charitable bingo and existing lottery games.

Its first initiative, unveiled yesterday, is a lawsuit that contends that the Ohio Constitution prohibits the state from joining a multistate lottery. TV and radio commercials will make their debut soon on the evils of gambling.

"I'm not against personal choice. You can go to Las Vegas if you can afford to get there," said David Zanotti, who heads the anti-gambling coalition. "What I'm against is the state being the biggest bookie in town."

Zanotti's efforts to end state-sponsored gambling come as the well-financed gaming industry has successfully expanded gambling nationwide.

Pennsylvania and New York have recently joined multistate games, and the state of Indiana is trying to expand its riverboat casinos.

Those who want to legalize electronic slot machines at Ohio race tracks continue to meet privately to plot their strategy.

Zanotti, with the help of church groups, hopes to reverse the trend.

He is president of the Ohio Roundtable, a nonprofit group with a proven record of political organizing.

The group has helped defeat two casino gambling initiatives and led a successful ballot issue that brought term limits to Ohio.

The lawsuit, filed in Franklin County Common Pleas Court, states that a multistate game violates six provisions of the Ohio Constitution, including one that requires all lottery profits to go to education.

In 1988, then-Ohio Attorney General Anthony Celebrezze issued a legal opinion that concluded that Ohio could not join a multistate lottery because some of the profits could end up in other states' treasuries.

Attorney General Betty Montgomery, who must defend the state against the lawsuit, would not say whether she agrees with Celebrezze's opinion.

She has given informal legal advice on the topic, but said attorney-client privilege prevents her from saying who asked for the advice or from disclosing her answer.

Gov. Bob Taft, legislative leaders and lottery officials disagree with Celebrezze. All said their staff attorneys concluded that Ohio could make the change.

"We were told by our legal counsel there should be no constitutional impediments to us proceeding," said Lottery Director Dennis Kennedy, because Ohio would be permitted to keep its profits.

Here's how multistate games work: Participating states pay non-jackpot prizes for tickets sold in their states, and each is assessed a payment to help cover weekly jackpots.

All remaining money is "profit" and remains within the state that generated the sales.

"Your profit never leaves your state," Kennedy said.

Lottery opponents said they will ask the judge to block the state from moving ahead with the multistate game.

Ohio has not decided which game to join, but Kennedy said he hopes to have a recommendation for the governor soon.

Contact Sandy Theis at:

stheis@plaind.com , 800-228-8272

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