Cincinnati casino construction due in 12 months
November 30, 2009
CINCINNATI – In the election earlier this month voters approved the plan by
Detroit entrepreneur Dan Gilbert to build a 300,000-square-foot casino with up
to 5,000 slot machines and unspecified table games. The site is at Broadway
Commons on 20 acres north of East Court Street, between Gilbert Avenue and
Reading Road.
In a press conference soon after the election, Gilbert said he is currently
assembling a team of architects and planners and hopes to break ground on the
project in late 2010. The casino will open sometime in 2012.
"We want to make sure it's an extremely unique project - we want to make it
special and tie it into the community," Gilbert said.
The next steps in the project will be:
1. Name minority-stake investors in 2-3 months.
2. Name an operator to run the casino in 3 month.
3. Begin naming a team of architects, planners and designers in 3-4 months.
4. Submit the plans to Cincinnati officials for review.
In the next six months, the Ohio legislature must pass gambling regulations and
establish the Ohio Casino Control Commission. Gov. Strickland will then appoint
commission members.
The casino developers will each pay a one-time $50 million license fee at the
time of issuance and are required to invest at least $250 million to build each
casino. They will pay 33 percent tax on gambling revenues when operations begin.
Return to Ohio Casinos.