A good bet on Rossford

ROSSFORD - Although voters said no back in November during the general election, developer Brian McMahon, president of Danberry National in Rossford, wants to try gambling in Ohio again.

This time the issue would be expanded to cover all of Ohio.

McMahon said lobbyists from Cleveland, Columbus and Cincinnati are already vying to secure gambling licenses and wants to make sure Northwest Ohio doesn't get left out.

"We need to make sure we're not at the back of the line," he said. "We need to be at the head of the line because we have the only zone site in the State of Ohio for gaming. That's a huge advantage."

The zoning is for the Crossroads of America section in Rossford - all 1,500 acres of it. That's more than 1,000 football fields of it.

The possibilities for this chunk of land are enormous, McMahon believes.

"Gaming to help support a large convention center, which in turn would allow us to support a more diverse amount of retail and entertainment."

Drawing business would be easy because of the transportation assets of the area.

"This is the intersection of the two largest interstates in the entire country. There's almost 100,000 vehicles a day that go by this site."

The project benefits would reach far beyond Rossford. The joint economic development agreement between Rossford and Toledo could translate into sharing revenue between the two neighboring cities. Both Wood and Lucas counties would benefit.

Despite the potential benefits and the several thousand jobs McMahon said the project would create, many still fear the crime, prostitution, and addictions they say legalized gambling could create.

"Are there people that are addicted to gaming? The facts speak for themselves. The reality is if those people want to game, what they're doing right now is going out of the state of Ohio to do it and we don't get the benefit of any of the economic development that comes with it."

McMahon says he won't know the viability of a casino-convention center project for Rossford until they get approvals and support from those putting up the money.