Two Franklin County state senators introduced a bill on Wednesday that would allow the county to opt out of the amendment that approved putting casinos in four cities, including Columbus.
"The people of Franklin County did not want this imposed upon them," said Republican State Sen. David Goodman. "They did not want a casino in central Ohio by voting 58 to 42 (percent) against this."
Goodman asked a committee to support his bill that would, in effect, give Franklin County a do-over, 10TV's Cara Connelly reported.
The resolution would allow the local communities and the counties to decide the issue.
The owners of the Columbus casino, Penn National Gaming, said that the location is now in the Ohio constitution and it would be located in the Arena District. They said that there is no reason to discuss moving it anywhere else.
"We should never have put zoning into the constitution of the state of Ohio, but we did and we have to deal with the circumstances that have been presented," Goodman said.
Goodman hopes the bill and other obstacles will force Penn National to consider alternative locations.
"This is a leverage position as well," Goodman said. "It is one of the many levers that are being utilized including for instance local governments unwillingness to potentially make this an easy development for Penn National."
Developers said that they remained firm to build the casino in the Arena District, Connelly reported.
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