After years of watching its residents travel to Michigan, Indiana, or Pittsburgh for gaming, Ohio is getting in on the action. Cleveland kicked off its first casino development yesterday.
Developers say they’ll spend $350 million to convert a former department store in the center of the city into a place for slot machines and poker.
Behind all this is Dan Gilbert, the Cavaliers owner and founder of Michigan’s Quicken Loans. He sees this casino as the first phase of gaming in Cleveland. He’ll be building a casino from scratch a few blocks away.
Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson says the project should create hundreds of local jobs.
They’re actually talking about how can we hire people? How can we hire local contractors, local vendors and make this investment a stimulus for this economy and the people of this city and region.
Dan Gilbert says the Cleveland casino will be integrated into the city, helping local businesses.
