CLEVELAND, Feb. 2 (UPI) -- Cleveland Mayor Jane Campbell has been talking with two Indian tribes about a gambling casino for the cash-strapped Ohio city, the Plain Dealer said.
Cleveland is among many municipalities across the country looking at legalized casino gambling as an answer to budget woes. Campbell's chief of staff said the mayor spent an hour with a representative of the Oklahoma-based Eastern Shwanee tribe Monday following talks last week with a Sandusky-area group with ties to the Wyandot tribe.
"She is absolutely willing to listen," Chris Ronayne, the mayor's chief of staff, told the newspaper.
The Eastern Shawnee are researching possible sites for tribal casinos, including two in northeast Ohio.
Voters would have to approve a tribal casino in a ballot referendum to change the state constitution either to permit casino-style gambling or give municipalities home-rule power to decide gambling issues.
Twenty-eight states have Indian casinos under compacts negotiated with the tribes.
