The rules for Ohio casinos are being codified. From the Columbus Dispatch:
Would-be Ohio gamblers can rest easy: The slot machines at the state’s four casinos will pay back, on average, at least 85 percent of the money people put into them.
Gamblers at new casinos in Columbus, Cleveland, Cincinnati and Toledo will be able to drink until 2:30 a.m., but none of the booze will be free. They won’t be able to smoke.
The state’s gambling industry will be overseen by a new commission whose seven members will be appointed by the governor to four-year terms and make $60,000 a year for part-time work.
Those are a few common provisions in bills introduced Monday and yesterday in the state Senate and House on how to govern casinos scheduled to open in 2012 and 2013. The governor must sign a final bill before the rules go into effect.
The reporter later mentions that actual payouts are usually much higher than the state-mandated minimums. A few weeks ago I presented a paper at the Association of Private Enterprise Education about state-mandated minimum slot payouts, regulation, and actual payout percentages. The big thing I learned is that I get tired of typing “state-mandated minimum payout” pretty quickly. I was able to establish that there’s no real correlation between the SMMP and the actual payout percentage–a large base of repeat customers and competition seem to be the driving factors.
I’m revising that paper for publication right now, so hopefully it comes out somewhere soon.