Ohio: Ohio Lottery

Example: The slot machine fight. Contrary to folklore, that's no more about morals than is personal marijuana use (de facto legal in Ohio) and, among consenting adults, anything-goes sexual conduct (legal in Ohio since the mid-1970s).

The slots fight is really over (1) who gets richer, thanks to General Assembly decisions and (2) whether schools, if slots became legal, ever again could pass property-tax levies. Schools can't want levies to become harder to pass. And levies aren't going away. But legalizing slots might make levies a tougher sell - as the Ohio Lottery might have done.

As everyone "knows," the Ohio Lottery was "supposed to take care of" schools.

The decision by Judge John F. Bender means the commission can proceed with using Intralot SA instead of longtime vendor Gtech to offer Mega Millions, Pick 3, Keno and other online games starting July 1.

"I am grateful to Judge Bender for confirming what I always believed: that the entire process was always objective and fair," Lottery Director Michael A. Dolan said in a statement.

Dolan said Gtech has 30 days to appeal. A Gtech representative could not be reached for comment last night.

Tom Little, U.S. president of the Greece-based Intralot, said he was pleased by the ruling and that "everything is going quite well" with the transition to having his company take over the lottery games in July.

Keno is on track to bring in less than half the revenue projected by lottery officials and Gov. Ted Strickland's office. After an early burst of interest, bar and restaurant owners aren't stampeding to wire their establishments for the game.

And nearly a quarter of businesses that once had Keno have decided to drop it.

Among Keno watchers, the bad economy seems to be the prime culprit, followed by staffing issues at some of the host businesses and the relative complexity of the game.

Strickland ordered the game a year ago to raise a projected $73 million a year for education. Six months in, Keno has yielded $13.