By Leo Shane III
Enquirer Columbus Bureau

COLUMBUS - Horse racing industry officials will not try to put a slot machines proposal before voters in November after a defeat in the House late Wednesday.

Neil Clark, lobbyist for the industry, said he hopes to put the issue before voters in 2005 but has given up on doing that through the Legislature.

"We've been spending three years trying to do this," he said. "We always come close, but we never get over the finish line. I think we have to realize there are too many factors influencing members of the General Assembly."

The slots plan was estimated to bring in between $533 million and $675 million annually to the state. That money would have been divided among college scholarships, early childhood education programs and grants to schools.

Supporters in the House fell three votes short of the 60 needed to approve the resolution. Southwest Ohio lawmakers voted for the resolution.

The Senate adjourned for its summer recess before the vote, informed in advance of the measure's likely failure.

A similar slots-for-education plan was approved by the Senate last fall but killed by the House.

"One of the biggest fears of the education community was that this would be another lottery," said Fred Pausch, legislative director for the Ohio School Boards Association. "The lottery was sold as a cure-all to fix school funding." Sen. Lou Blessing, R-Cincinnati, the Senate's top slots proponent, criticized education groups for their opposition.

"So, as a result of the school funding group admitting they don't want nor need more state funds, next year's budget should be a lot easier to balance," he said in a statement.