Even as out-of-state developers pitch a plan for casinos in Ohio's four largest cities, the state's ailing horse tracks are going to the legislature with a proposal for thousands of slot machines at their facilities.

The seven tracks, including Scioto Downs south of Columbus and Beulah Park in Grove City, could get slot machines without going to the public for approval, according to an analysis by a member of the Ohio State Racing Commission.

Thomas M. Zaino, a former Ohio tax commissioner and current member of the racing commission, suggested that each track could get 2,000 slot machines and that the state could tax up to 50 percent of their revenue.

On Wednesday, a Pennsylvania-based gambling company and the owner of the Cleveland Cavaliers pro basketball team announced that they will seek voter approval in November for casinos in the downtowns of Columbus, Cleveland, Cincinnati and Toledo.

The casinos, which would have table games and as many as 5,000 slot machines each, would be taxed at 33 percent, generating an estimated $600 million in annual revenue.

Their proposal sets aside 3 percent of that take -- estimated at $18 million a year -- for the horse-racing industry, but it would not allow additional gambling at racetracks.

That's not good enough for the tracks, said Sam Zonak, executive director of the racing commission. He noted that the owner of the Thistledown track near Cleveland filed for bankruptcy this month, while the manager of River Downs near Cincinnati has said that facility will close if it loses money again this year.

"Horse racing is dying, so it's our job to do what we can to help it," Zonak said yesterday. "There has to be some kind of alternate gaming at racetracks."

Zaino's analysis concluded that the General Assembly could authorize a state agency, such as the Ohio Lottery Commission or the racing commission, to administer gambling at the racetracks. There would be no need to go to the voters despite the state constitution's restrictions on gambling, he concluded.

That could set up a scenario in which racetracks have thousands of slot machines in addition to those at four casinos in major cities, but proponents of the four-city plan said they don't see a conflict.

"I don't think that as a campaign committee we'd take a position one way or another," said Bob Tenenbaum, spokesman for the Ohio Jobs & Growth Plan, the four-city casino proposal.

Gov. Ted Strickland opposes both ideas, spokeswoman Amanda Wurst said.

Ohio House Speaker Armond Budish, D-Beachwood, hasn't developed a position on either, spokesman Keary McCarthy said.

State Rep. Tyrone K. Yates, D-Cincinnati, who requested the analysis from the racing commission during budget hearings, said yesterday that he's not inclined to support slot machines at racetracks.

"I want to see horse racing there as horse racing, rather than see horse tracks turn into areas that are primarily slots," Yates said.

In 2006, the seven racetracks teamed up with Cleveland developers on a ballot measure to allow up to 3,500 slot machines at each racetrack and two full casinos in downtown Cleveland. That measure failed, gaining only 44 percent of the vote.

Rob Walgate, vice president of the anti-gambling Ohio Roundtable, said the racetracks' new proposal looks suspiciously similar to one that voters already rejected.

jnash@dispatch.com

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