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Two Ohio Businessmen Want To Open Indian Casino 30 Miles From Columbus

Posted on May 17th, 2010

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A couple of businessmen from Ohio has stealthily collaborated with the Oklahoma-based Delaware Tribe of Indians in planning to open a casino in Delaware County ahead of the planned casinos in Ohio’s four major cities. The team intends to build the casino near the intersection of I-71 and Rts. 36/37, roughly 30 miles from the site of the planned casino in Columbus to be developed by Penn National Gaming. Should the plan materialize, it would be the first casino in Ohio.

Tom Dix, a retired financial consultant and real estate broker from southwest Ohio, and Rudy Gerbus, manager of Trans-Ash Inc., a company in Cincinnati that builds and manages landfills, said the casino could be finished in no time and operational before Penn National Gaming Inc. opens its casino in Columbus in late 2012. The pair said the casino, located along a major highway, would easily make at least $800 million in annual gambling revenue. The investors were encouraged by what they believe is a more open attitude of the Obama administration on Indian gambling and also of Gov. Ted Strickland’s proposal of allowing slot machines at race tracks last year which has been suspended until approved by voters. They have engaged the help of a professor who helps Indian tribes verify historic land claims and have employed two well-known Ohio lobbyists.

The tribe said its members were originally from east-central Ohio, but white settlers forced them to move to Oklahoma. The tribe can set up a casino in Ohio either through a gambling compact with the governor or by means of a gambling license granted by the Bureau of Indian Affairs of the U.S. Department of the Interior. But the Delaware Tribe has no tribal land in Ohio. The governor, who opposed the voter-approved proposal for four casinos in Ohio’s four cities, is against any further expansion of gambling, therefore would most certainly not be keen on entering into a compact with the tribe. Moreover, Penn National Gaming, in all probability, would not consent to a potential competitor close by.

Last January, the two investors explained their proposal to the Delaware tribal council in Oklahoma, covering every item of the plan. Gerbus told the council that a casino license could be granted without much difficulty and delay to Indians who push for casinos. He said a casino worth $150 million, or less than half of Penn National’s outlay could be built and finished in just a few months. Both men said as they wanted to keep their plans private to avoid any debate and question from the public.Penn National, the developer that obtained the license to develop the casinos in Columbus and Toledo, has not issued any statement if it would block the tribe’s plan. Eric Schippers, Penn National’s spokesman, said there are no land claims in Ohio by any tribe. But Dix said they have already gotten an option to buy about 100 acres at I-71 and Rts. 36/37.

However there have been no reports of the tribe approaching the Delaware County, or the governor’s office about the prospect of a casino, nor has the tribe applied for a federal gambling license.