COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) - A challenge to racetrack slot machines has been pulled from November's ballot, and Gov. Ted Strickland is moving toward getting the budget-saving gambling devices up and running.
The Legislature had approved a plan from Strickland last summer to allow the lottery-run slot machines to raise as much as $933 million to balance the state's current two-year budget.
But the group LetOhioVote argued that the issue should be subject to a referendum of voters, and the state's high court agreed. In a letter yesterday to elections chief Jennifer Brunner withdrawing its petitions, LetOhioVote.org said it had achieved its goal of making sure important questions surrounding the new form of gambling were answered.
Withdrawal of the referendum follows final action by the racing commission last week on the sale of two of the tracks to two out-of-state gambling giants.