WDET News
- Ohio Approves Casinos
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Nov 4, 2009Metro Desk
Ohio voters have approved a measure to open casinos in four cities, including Toledo.
That means Detroit’s three casinos could see competition if Ohio residents decide to gamble closer to home.
Michael O’Callahan is Executive Vice President and COO of the Detroit Metro Convention & Visitors Bureau. He says he expects lose some day players to the Ohio casinos… but he believes overnight gamers will still make the trip to Detroit.
“The customer we’re really hoping to attract is the customer who’s going to come to town, stay overnight, eat in the restaurants and experience the destination. We’ll continue to have that upper hand because we’ve got the full service environment here and that’s something they … at least temporarily… won’t be doing in Cleveland or Cincinnati or Columbus.”
O’Callahan says with Detroit and Michigan collecting hundreds of millions of dollars in casino taxes annually… it was inevitable that other communities would want a share of the revenue.
Detroit's casino industry is worth about $1.3 billion a year.