Counties Receive Casino Tax Revenue

Counties around the state are beginning to receive their first payouts from casino tax revenue.

The first quarterly payouts from the state began arriving early last month, leading to discussions in many counties about how to spend the money.  Here in Muskingum County, Commissioner Jerry Lavy said the county received just over $75,000.

"We have talked about some different areas we’re going to use it for, but this particular money may go toward debris clean up from the storm in June that we had," said Lavy.

Emergency Management Agency Director Bo Keck had said the June 29th storm caused more than one million dollars in damage across the county.  Lavy said other ideas for future revenue are still being discussed.

"Anytime you can get additional revenue, because local government funding was cut by almost $300,000 last year, so this is making up a little bit of that cut," said Keck.

Lavy said that once all of Ohio’s new casinos are operating, payouts could increase accordingly.