MyOhioNow, an organization who fell at the polls for a casino gambling initiative in the Buckeye state, has announced that it will move forward with a new plan. Cleveland, Columbus, Cincinnati, Youngstown, and Toledo are now the focus of the groups efforts.

The release read:

"First we would like to thank our staff, volunteers and friends who have worked hard to pass Issue 6, that would have benefited all of Ohio. We are very appreciative of our partners at Lakes Entertainment who had the strength and vision in their support to pass Issue 6. We are proud to have had a visionary like Lyle Berman to bring his incredible skills to create a project that would have been an exceptional resort/casino for Ohio," said Rick Lertzman, co-founder of MyOhioNow.

"Passing an issue that involves casino gambling in Ohio is a difficult proposition. In our campaign for Issue 6, MyOhioNow was far outspent by the Vote No on 6 Pac that was funded by Penn National/Argosy Casinos. With a reported $50 million campaign (approximately over $1 million dollars per day) waged by Penn National Argosy Casino against Issue 6, with false and misleading ads, confused Ohio voters and was certainly a roadblock to allowing this issue to succeed," continued Mr. Lertzman.

"The sad outcome of this defeat is that the 10,000 Ohio jobs that would have been created by this project have now been lost. The hundreds of millions of dollars in revenues are lost and the $600 million dollar construction that would have been the largest investment in Ohio in the 21st century. However, Argosy Casino will continue to reap millions of dollars from Ohioans along with jobs remaining in Indiana."

I personally think most reasonable people in the state agree that casino gambling would help Ohio. It is time, in my opinion, for Governor Strickland to show some leadership and find a way for all Ohioans. Issue 6 was a bad idea for the state and who knows what MyOhioNow is conjuring up with their latest pitch to voters. It is time for elected officials in this state to tackle the issue as hard as it may be to do so.