WFMJ.com News weather sports for Youngstown-Warren OhioAustintown could be closer to race track/casino

Austintown could be closer to race track/casino

AUSTINTOWN, Ohio - A bill approved by the Ohio House on Thursday could bring a proposed race track and casino in Austintown one step closer to reality.

The bill is designed to simplify the process for a horse track to relocate in Ohio and apply for a video slot machine license. Which is what Penn-National Gaming wants to do in Austintown.

Penn-National says it will seek to close Raceway Park in Toledo and build a new 200-million dollar facility at Centerpoint in Austintown. A new license or license transfer hasn't been done in Ohio for 50 years and Representative Ron Gerberry, the co-sponsor of the bill, says the process needed to be less complicated.

"The process was so antiquated and so old that it was going to take time, and this piece of legislation now streamlines it, makes it easier and puts it right into the commission, and the commission will be able to expedite that process", Gerberry said. 

Governor Kasich has said that his administration is prepared to do all that it can to help bring a track and casino to the Mahoning Valley.

But it may not be smooth sailing.  Dave Zonotti, of The Ohio Roundtables, which has opposed all efforts to expand gaming in Ohio, says he expects numerous lawsuits to be filed challenging the video slot agreements Goveror Kasich has brokered with casino developers.

Gerberry says he doesn't believe those challenges will stand up.

The track re-location bill passed the house on a vote 77 to 16 and Gerberry expects the Senate to vote on the bill as early as next week.