Columbus, OH --- For the second time this year, Ohio’s harness horsemen and women rallied at the Statehouse.

This past May it was in support of VLTs at the state’s racetracks, and on Wednesday it was to urge voters to defeat Issue 3, which would legalize four full-service casinos in the state.

The message was not mixed: Casinos in Ohio would actually kill jobs -- racing and breeding jobs.

About two dozen horse trailers, trucks and other vehicles, festooned with placards and banners urging voters to say “no” to casinos, circled the Ohio Statehouse to gain the attention of lunch hour drivers and pedestrians, and the assembled press.

As the parade passed by, individual members of the horsemen’s group were stationed on the sidewalks bordering Capitol Square to hand out literature outlining why Issue 3’s promise of jobs was a false one, and one that puts the thousands of jobs in racing and agriculture in severe jeopardy.

USTA/Mark Hall photos

Brenda Mossbarger was among those offering leaflets to prospective voters on Wednesday.

Steve McCoy, president of the Ohio Harness Horsemen’s Association offered some dire predictions: “If Issue 3 passes, I think the majority of Ohio’s seven racetracks will be forced to close.

“The casino backers promise 34,000 jobs, but thousands of those would be temporary construction jobs, and their number doesn’t net out the thousands of jobs that would likely be lost in our industry.”

Polling done by TruthPac, a coalition formed earlier this year to defeat the issue, has indicated that the issue is too close to call, less than one week before the Nov. 3 election.

Steve McCoy

If the issue passes, casino owners would be obligated to pay three percent of revenues to the racing industry.

“Remember, that’s three percent of 33 percent (of revenues the casinos would pay in taxes),” McCoy said. “By their estimate that means about $14 million that would have to be spread among seven racetracks and seven purse accounts. That’s not enough to help the industry.”