In November '09, the voters of Ohio approved the construction of four casino in four cities: Cincinnati, Cleveland, Columbus, and Toledo. The casinos are expected to be built and open by 2012, except for Cleveland in 2013.
A couple of weeks ago, the State of Ohio finally came out with some basic rules and regulations for the casinos. The ones that have caused a bit of controversy are the ones involving alcohol and smoking.
There will be no free drinks in the casinos. People who've been to Vegas once or twice, but nowhere else, are upset by this. But Vegas, and maybe Atlantic City, are the only places that just give away alcohol. All of the casinos in this part of the country charge for alcohol. Some of them do offer free booze in their High Roller areas. The Ohio casinos are also cutting off alcohol at 2:30am, which follows state law. This is also standard in this part of the country. I know that the Detroit casinos have "Last Call" at 2am.
Also following state law is the smoking policy, which is No Smoking anywhere in the casinos. This is not normal. In fact, I'm not aware of any casino in the country where you can't smoke in certain areas of the casino, like the Pit. I'm actually expecting this to change before Opening Day for one simple reason. It's bad for the casino operators.
If a smoker is having a bad day at the Slots, they would normally just stay in the Pit and chase their losses hoping for that one Big Hit. But in Ohio, they would have to leave the Pit, and go outside for a smoke. While outside for five or ten minutes, they can think about their losses, and realize they are better off just going home, and try again next time.
And from the logistical perspective, will the casinos allow a huge crowd to hang around right outside the entrance? Or are they gonna build some designated Smoking Areas that are outdoors? For those who live in Northeast Ohio, how many people are going to hang around outside in the middle of January, instead of just stopping by for a quick visit before heading home?
The age for gambling in the Ohio casinos is 21, which is standard for most of the country. I understand this is because of alcohol, but I disagree with it. In Ohio, you only need to be 18 to play the State Lottery. So why not allow them to also play Blackjack or Poker?
There is one issue that hasn't been discussed yet, and that's Parking. Currently, there is no such thing as Free Parking in Downtown Cleveland. They're planning on opening up a temporary casino right on Public Square. Since it's temporary, that means we will have to use whatever parking we can find. Currently, every place that charges for parking has flexible rates, depending on what is happening Downtown. It's is usually up to $20 or more for special events like a ball game. So how much will they gouge us on a Saturday night? How many people are willing to pay $10-$25 for parking to go play poker on a Saturday night.
In Atlantic City, you have to pay $5 to park in any of the casino parking garages. This is somewhat balanced by the poker rooms only charging $4 max rake. Do you really think that the Ohio casinos will only have $4 max rake? The national "standard" is $5 max rake, and Detroit has $6 max rake. For those that take poker seriously, these extra expenses really add up over time.
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