Should Electronic Slot Machines Fill the Budget Gap? -- An Assessment of Ohio Voter Attitudes
Ohio’s budget crisis has prompted elected officials in Ohio to consider various approaches to tax reform. Unfortunately, these discussions have occurred without a gauge of popular support. This report is the first of two by The Buckeye Institute that assesses Ohio citizen concerns about tax reform and fiscal policy in Ohio. This report focuses on attitudes toward video lottery terminals, or VLTs.
VLTs are electronic slot machines that would be placed at Ohio race tracks. Proponents argue they will generate hundreds of millions of dollars in new tax revenue for the state government. The results of this poll found:
The poll results suggest many Ohioans do not separate the moral and ethical dimensions of gambling from more objective policy issues such as the potential for VLT’s to raise revenues for state government programs.
Samuel R. Staley, Ph.D. is a senior fellow at the Buckeye Institute and director of Urban and Land Use Policy at Reason Foundation in Los Angeles. An Ohio native and resident, he is co-author of the forthcoming book Mobility First: A New Vision for Transportation in a Globally Competitive Twenty-first Century (Rowman & Littlefield) and co-author of The Road More Traveled: Why the Congestion Crisis Matters More Than You Think, and What We Can Do About It (Rowman & Littlefield, 2006).
