On July 24th, 2008, at least three pastors in the state of Ohio are not fans of keno, the Ohio Lottery game that will start next month in bars, restaurants and social clubs by next month. These three pastors are the Reverend El Akuchie from the Richland County, Prayer Network and the Godsfield House of Prayer on Dawson, Donnie Moss, the Pastor of the Reigning in Life Church from Lexington and Jack Sharp, the Pastor of the Lexington Presbyterian Church. The three pastors said that the game is just detrimental to the growth of the poor members of the community.
Players can win as much as $100,000 for just a $1 bet in keno. Lottery officials will draw twenty random numbers every four minutes and the prizes that players will receive will be determined on how many numbers that they will be able to correctly guess. Akuchie said that he cannot understand on why Governor Ted Strickland is supporting keno even if it is just to solve the budget deficit of the state and Ohio residents have rejected previous measures promoting expanded gambling in the state.
The Decker's Depot in Lexington, which is owned by Joe Clark, applied for a keno license. Clark said that he does not think that he will be in some trouble with his keno license even though his business is near two churches and Sharp and Moss visits Decker's Depot. Sharp commented that he has seen firsthand on what is the effect of gambling to the poor during his 25 years stay in Brazil. He added that it does not mean that supporting a business like Decker's Depot is that they are supporting gaming as well.
[20-08]
Louis Blechdom
