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Casino issue gets backing from Cleveland Cavs owner

Issue would allow Dan Gilbert and another company to build casinos in Ohio.

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By William Hershey, Staff Writer Updated 2:04 AM Thursday, October 29, 2009

COLUMBUS — As a boy Dan Gilbert ran a pizza business from his mother’s kitchen, until it got shut down over local zoning and health permit issues.

He moved onto the next challenge, and at age 22 — as a first-year law student — he founded the company that became Quicken Loans Inc., the nation’s largest online retail mortgage lender.

These days he’s trying to win an NBA title as majority owner of the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Gilbert, 47, is used to winning, but doing a record $25 billion in mortgages this year for Quicken Loans or even getting past the Celtics and Lakers might be easier than passing a casino issue in a state where voters have turned down gambling plans four times since 1990.

Issue 3 would allow casinos in Cleveland, Columbus, Toledo and Cincinnati. If it passes, Gilbert will develop the casinos in Cleveland and Cincinnati, while Penn National Gaming of Wyomissing, Pa., develops the other two.

Gilbert does more than write checks. On Wednesday, Oct. 28, he was in Columbus rallying union members to get their people to the polls on Tuesday.

“If we want to win this thing, we have to get the vote out,” Gilbert told a rally at the Plumbers and Pipefitters Local 189 Union Hall.

Gilbert’s heard the drumbeat of opposition, including that Issue 3 would create a monopoly that wouldn’t allow other companies to operate additional casinos. He said the real monopoly would have come from Gov. Ted Strickland’s now suspended plan to put video lottery terminals at Ohio’s racetracks.

“You want to talk about monopoly,” said Gilbert. “Here at least citizens vote on it.”

He said he wouldn’t stand in the way of a company that went before voters with another constitutional amendment to bring additional casinos to Ohio.

Gilbert likes his chances on Tuesday, in part because he said the backers did their homework and talked to voters about what went wrong in the past.

The people, he said, want first-class casinos and they want most of the casino tax dollars to go to schools and local governments, not the state’s general fund.

Gilbert, who is from the Detroit area, has spent nearly $17 million so far pushing Issue 3. He said the new Cleveland casino would cost between $500 million to $600 million while the price tag for Cincinnati would be from $400 million to $450 million.

The Cincinnati casino, a likely draw for gamblers from the Dayton area, would have to be top flight to compete with the $335 million Hollywood Casino along the Ohio River in Lawrenceburg, Ind., he said. That casino, coincidentally, is operated by Penn National.

Gilbert sees casinos as a key to creating vibrant, exciting downtowns that will appeal to bright, young people now fleeing Ohio.

At an anti-Issue 3 rally Wednesday, the drivers of pickups pulling horse trailers that circled the Statehouse don’t share that same vision.

“Vote no on 3,” “Save Ohio Horse Farms,” and “No Casinos for Bookies” were among the messages on dozens of trucks driven by horse and harness race industry supporters. They believe that if Issue 3 passes, thousands of jobs in Ohio’s racing industry could be lost.

The reference to bookies was an apparent shot at Gilbert, who has been fighting back against opponents who dug up his 1981 arrest for running a gambling operation while a student at Michigan State University. According to published reports, Gilbert was fined, put on probation, given community service and the charges were expunged.

He disputed a Jan. 6, 1982, report in The State News — the MSU student paper — that said the sports bookmaking operation handled $114,000 during the fall term.

“That’s a lie,” he said. “That’s just a lie.” He compared the operation to a “Wednesday night poker game.”

Michigan’s top law enforcement official, Attorney General Mike Cox, said there’s no lingering controversy.

“He has no criminal record in the state of Michigan,” said Cox. “His case was dismissed by a judge and his record was expunged.”

Cox said Gilbert, who plans to move his Quicken Loans operation from the suburbs to Detroit this spring, has been a positive force in the economically struggling state.

“We could use a few more like him in Michigan,” he said.

Contact this reporter at (614) 224-1608 or whershey@DaytonDailyNews.com.

Staff Writer Laura A. Bischoff contributed to this report.

Dan Gilbert

Age: 47

Education: Bachelor’s degree, Michigan State University; law degree, Wayne State University

Business: Chairman and founder of Quicken Loans Inc.; majority owner of the Cleveland Cavaliers

Home: Detroit area

Family: Married with five children

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I will and have everytime voted yes for this issue. With the jobless rate in Ohio so large how can we not vote yes. I know some bad things come from having casinos but there far more good things that can happen. I live on the west of Ohio off of 75 and you would not believe the amount of people that go to Indiana from my community. Think of the town where DHL was a casino could help many of the 3,000 people who lost there jobs.

Bill
10:03 AM, 11/2/2009

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Dan Gilbert's past would be worth checking out before giving him any Ok on gambling. His Michigan arrest in 1981 is not a lie - not a youthful indiscretion - Google his name & you'll get more details.

Spending 32 million in Ohio to get what you want should ALWAYS raise questions - know who & what your voting for.

Marsha
8:12 PM, 10/30/2009

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I'm from Niagara Falls NY originally, but have lived in Cleveland for the last 13 years. You know, I recently seen a video that talks about how the Casino there closed down a bunch of the small businesses that maybe employed a 1000 people at minimum wage. Its funny how they don't mention that the Casino in Niagara Falls is the biggest employer in the city with over 10,000 jobs provided and all are over minimum wage. I can tell you that the casino was the best thing that happened for that city

terry
6:45 PM, 10/30/2009

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With the news that came out last night in Detroit, I would be very skeptical of Dan Gilbert considering he provided what he's calling a "personal loan" ex-Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick. Gilbert claims that the loan was made to help Kilpatrick step down during the text scandal hearings.

Can we really allow a change in the constitution that would support someone of this kind of character?

Question Everything
11:24 AM, 10/30/2009

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I'll be voting YES on issue three, because frankly a job is a job is a job, whether it is minimum wage, or six figures a year. Heck, I may even try to get a second job at the casinos, goodness knows I'll need one paying for everyone's healthcare & all.
& ps, do you have any idea how much these "minimum wage" workers make in tips a night/weekend?

Betty
10:38 AM, 10/30/2009

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