What a casino means for city businesses

TOLEDO, Ohio (WWLP) - Casinos may attract millions of people every year, but do those patrons venture outside of the casino?

22News traveled to Toledo, Ohio to find out.

The northwestern Ohio city opened their first casino this year in hopes of bringing new jobs and increased revenue.

The city is very similar in population and economics to Springfield, where three casino companies have hopes of building an $800-900 million resort-style casino.

An issue people in Springfield have expressed concern about is a loss of business. Some are concerned that people will go to the casino, get all their services there, and not leave the premises to patronize nearby businesses.

So 22News asked two Toledo business owners if that's been the case for them.

“A lot of people don't want to pay the extra price, some of the food down there is pricey as it always is, the buffet is like $30, so we're way under that for a nice meal here,” Toledo restaurant owner Rob Socie said.

Toledo’s casino is about 5-10 minutes away from the city's downtown, located in a more isolated area off the highway, but still within the city limits. Julie Ketterman owns a business downtown, and told 22News she has seen customers coming over from the casino.

“We did get visitors that maybe after they were done they were just driving around, and we were within that little immediate driving distance to go and check and come downtown and see what was going on down here,” Ketterman said.

Socie and Ketterman’s businesses are feeling some benefits from the casino, but it is also important to point out that Ohio’s casino legislation did not allow for a hotel to be built yet, so some of that venturing outside of the casino could be a result of needing to spend the night off-site.

In the case of Springfield, all proposed casinos would include a hotel.