Kiosks Pushed Onto Ohio Tracks

Neither last November's ballot vote, nor Ohio's governor's executive order seem enough to stop gaming machines from appearing at the state's race tracks.

Ohio Attorney General Marc Dann doesn't like the wording:"skill-based amusement machines."

The fight to ban, or to allow slot machines at horseracing tracks in Ohio succumbed to such wording in 2003 when the issue was put to the Ohio legislature.

Slot machines, considered gambling devices, were disallowed at race parks by last November's negative ballot return, but kiosks have won out, apparently, because their games require playing skill. They are not considered games of chance, which amounts to illegal gambling in Ohio. Kiosks are skill-based amusement machines.

It has become a way of life in America to split hairs constitutionally. Remember the 2000 presidential election?

There no longer are definite blacks and whites. We have become a wave of gray.

Ohio Governor Ted Strickland supports the November ballot vote that defeated the push for slot machines at Ohio's seven race tracks 57 percent to 43 percent. In August (last month), he issued an executive order that curtails wagering devices paying out more than $10 in cash, or in prizes.

Tic Tac Fruit and Nudge Master, kiosk machine manufacturers, have taken an aggressive stance. Together, they were successful in obtaining a restraining order that blocks the enforcement of Governor Strickland's executive order.

Shades of who's in charge here?

While the court battle on this issue rages, Columbus's Beulah Park and Cincinnati's River Downs have begun installing kiosks at their tracks.

I have no personal stake in the outcome of this court struggle. But I do have a thought: Why bother to use the ballot if it's voice of the people is so usurpable?

Just a question.