Ohio Casinos Now Have Regulations In Place

For Ohio residents, it is a great time for those who have waited a long time for casino gambling to come to the state. Four new casinos in Cincinnati, Columbus, Toledo, and Cleveland were approved by voters in November. On Friday, lawmakers gave the green light for the regulation of the casinos. Previously, Ohio residents had to make do and play free online casino games, using a free casino bonus to play casino games on your terms.

After several weeks of debate, Senate and House lawmakers finally agreed on a strategy for moving forward with casino regulations. The main sticking points was the requirement that casinos submit a diversity plan on an annual basis. In the end, lawmakers decided to strike that part of the plan from the final version of the legislation.

Instead, legislators worked together on rules for such events as charity bingo games and also how to split up the $200 million that the casinos will be paying in licensing fees. The House pushed to make a decision as soon as possible on how the money would be spent, but the Senate pushed for a delay for making that decision.

Amongst the bigger issues needing to be resolved was how the new casinos would be regulated. Lawmakers ended up concluding that an Ohio Gaming Commission would have to be created and that it will oversee regulation of the casinos. One other option was for the attorney general to be the regulating authority, but in the end it was the Commission that won out.