Ohio Racino Proposes $100M Expansion Over Next Two Years

An Ohio gaming facility is about to add a big revenue maker with a new racetrack and casino developmental plan.

The expansion under consideration is a $100 million project coming in Lebanon, Ohio sitting on the Miami Valley Gaming and Racing location in place. The goal is to bring business from the cities nearby with a hotel, restaurant, gaming machines on hand and a parking garage in the works.

Lebanon is located in Warren County and the location would be a prime candidate to bring in business via the gambling market. Ohio racinos surpassed $1 billion in revenue earlier this year and enjoyed a fruitful August.

The racino president and general manager Domenic Mancini told the Associated Press that this project “will allow the racino to attract business from other major cities beyond Cincinnati and Dayton.”

Currently there are a quartet of casinos that occupy the Ohio landscape between the JACK Cleveland Casino, JACK Cincinnati Casino, Hollywood Casino Toledo and Hollywood Casino Columbus.

A Look at The New Developmental Plans

This brand new project in Lebanon would call for the creation of 300 jobs during the building of the property and nearly 100 positions on a permanent basis. The whole construction is expected to be finished during the first half of 2021.

As for the hotel in the works, it will have 194 rooms for occupants to stay in, while the parking garage will house roughly 1,000 cars.

Inside the casino will give gamblers an opportunity to play at around 250 video lottery terminal machines on over 10,000 square feet of supplementary floor space. That would be added to the existing 68,000 square feet of gaming space at the property so the additions would only be more convenient for visitors.

As Mancini alluded to above, the goal is draw people from the big cities to come over to Lebanon and gamble. Dayton and Cincinnati are about 27 miles and 32 miles respectively from the Miami Valley Gaming and Racing location.

Located at 6000 State Route 63 in Lebanon, the Miami Valley Gaming and Racing opened in Dec. 2013 and is home to the Miami Valley Raceway, Lebanon Hotels, 15,000 square foot of convention space and four restaurants: The Cin City Sea & Steak, Acres Seasonal Buffet, Trifecta Eatery and MV Perks.

Ohio drew a lowly September from its four casinos at a number of $68.3 million which was down $3.3 million from August.

The Latest Sports Gambling Progress

Not much progress has been made in regard to sports betting in the state as customers will still have to go to neighboring Pennsylvania and Indiana to place wagers on sports.

State lawmakers in Ohio are weighing two different sports gambling bills: One plans to have sports betting controlled by Ohio’s Casino Control Commission, which is currently in charge of regulating the four casinos in the state. Another would give the Ohio Lottery control of sports betting; they are currently in charge of running the gambling operations at all seven racinos in Ohio.

According to News5Cleveland, Republican Gov. Mike DeWine is in favor of the first bill which would give the state’s Casino Control Commission full control. However, opponents question the constitutionality of the bill.

The looming addition of this racino and casino expansion in Lebanon will only add to the power and revenue of the casinos and possible sports gambling bills being discussed in the near future.