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COLUMBUS — The cute grade-school kid holding a laptop computer in the 30-second TV ad grins wide as the narrator promises that, in a short time, slot machines will provide almost $1 billion a year for college for Ohio students.

What the Issue 3 ad doesn't say, however, is that the scholarships won't be fully funded until 2021 —15 years from now. And most of the kids in the ad won't be eligible for full scholarships because they're already too old.

"This is not as advertised," said David Zanotti of the Ohio Roundtable, a leader of the Issue 3 opposition campaign.

"I think it's a lot like the lottery because it's being overpromised and it'll be underdelivered."

Issue 3 proponents are running a $20.5 million campaign to convince Ohio voters to amend the state constitution to allow slot machine gambling.

Backers did their homework and found that tying it to college scholarships would make it more attractive to voters who rejected casino gambling in Ohio in 1990 and 1996.

"This is a tough issue to pass in the state of Ohio because there's a strong religious right and moral conviction in the state," said Charles Ruma, Issue 3 campaign chairman and owner of Beulah Park, a horse track in suburban Columbus.

Issue 3 calls for installing 3,500 slot machines at each of Ohio's seven horse racing tracks and at two sites in Cleveland.

The site owners — who are financing the campaign — would get 55 percent of gambling proceeds. Most of the rest would be split for public purposes, including 30 percent for college scholarships.

Beginning with the class of 2009, Ohio high school graduates going to in-state colleges would be eligible for grants.

Until 2021 when the program is fully ramped up, only the top 5 percent who go to college in-state would get the average annual Ohio tuition at a four-year public college or university. That amounts to about $7,900 a year now.

Students who attend college out of state would get nothing.

Those outside the top 5 percent would get an unspecified amount based on how many points they've accrued through activities such as taking college prep classes, participating in extracurricular activities and taking proficiency tests.

Issue 3's campaign plays up the scholarships and plays down the gambling.

Zanotti complains the ads are misleading, painting Issue 3 as a way to do away with Ohio's college affordability problems.

Robin Hepler, Issue 3 spokeswoman said, "There's nothing misleading about the ads at all. Everything is straightforward."

Infusing $850 million a year into the higher education system will deal with college affordability problems, she said.

Zanotti draws comparisons to the Ohio Lottery, which voters approved in a 1973 constitutional amendment to help fund K-12 education. People's suspicions rose, along with their frustration, as Ohio's school funding problems persisted.

The backers of Issue 3 are careful to note that safeguards are in place to make sure this doesn't turn out like the lottery.

They say the legislature will not control the slot money and the state will be required to maintain current higher education spending levels.

"This will be in accounts in individual kid's names," Helper said. The money will be distributed by the Ohio Board of Regents.

The slots will be, for the most part, where gambling already occurs, Ruma said.

He said Learn & Earn would lead to $1.8 billion in construction at the gambling sites, 20,000 construction jobs, and 17,000 new permanent jobs.

Between the jobs and scholarships, voters have a chance to make dynamic changes, he said.

"This state needs an economic stimulus," Ruma said.

But Zanotti's opposition group, Vote No Casinos, contends that Learn & Earn will hurt the economy by pulling money away from other entertainment venues such as professional sports, movie theaters and upscale malls.

Casino gambling failed to renew Detroit, the group says:

"Casinos came to town but lay offs continued. The casino lights burn brightly but people still desperately struggle to pay their utility bills in a city named the poorest city in America in 2004."

Learn & Earn's campaign tagline is, "a lot of good will come of this;" Vote No Casinos uses the slogan, "a lot of grief will come of this."

Zanotti cites a 2005 study by Cleveland State University that predicted 109,000 additional problem gamblers would be created by statewide casino gambling. Problem gambling destroys lives and families, he said. Ruma said, however, there is no correlation between gambling and higher bankruptcy, divorce, suicide or crime rates. He said the Cleveland State study looked at gambling addictions if 18 full-blown casinos were opened statewide.

Contact this reporter at (614) 224-1624 or lbischoff@DaytonDailyNews.com.