City, counties reap another installment
Erin Hunter trains on the roulette table at the Table Games Service Academy at the new Horseshoe Casino Cincinnati, which opens March 4. Photo by Liz Dufour.
Southwest Ohio school districts are set to receive more than $5.3 million this month in their first casino tax distribution, according to figures by the Ohio Department of Taxation, Alexander Coolidge of The Cincinnati Enquirer reported last week.
Another $3.7 million in gambling tax revenues are headed for Hamilton, Butler, Clermont and Warren counties, and city of Cincinnati coffers. Local governments have already received two quarterly distributions from the department since summer after the first casinos opened in May.
According to a release from Lakota Local Schools, the school district will be receiving $351,697 in the first distribution of tax revenues from casinos operating in Ohio.
“The amount is about what we projected,” said Jenni Logan, Lakota’s treasurer. “Any additional funds always help, but we won’t know until the state funding is released whether it’s really additional or not.”
According to the school district, the first casino tax distribution ($351,697) is less than one days’ operating budget. The school district expects to know if the state reduces its funding when it’s announced in the next few months.
The latest money is part of $61.1 million being distributed across Ohio – $38 million to hundreds of school districts, $20.5 million to 88 counties and eight large cities, and $2.6 million to Cleveland, Toledo and Columbus that serve as home to the casinos now operating.
Once the Horseshoe Casino Cincinnati opens March 4, Cincinnati will begin collecting 5 percent of the the gambling tax revenue generated.
