Nov. 2 (Bloomberg) -- Ohio, whose unemployment rate recently was a percentage point above the U.S. average, will decide for the fifth time since 1990 whether to open the state to casino gambling in its four largest cities.

Tomorrow’s vote on a constitutional amendment would let Penn National Gaming Inc. and Rock Ventures Partnership, owner of the National Basketball Association’s Cleveland Cavaliers, open casinos in Columbus, Toledo, Cleveland and Cincinnati.

Last year, when voters considered a proposal to allow a single parlor, Wyomissing, Pennsylvania-based Penn National, the operator of 19 gaming facilities and racetracks, spent $38 million on its defeat. The company viewed the plan as a threat to its Hollywood Casino in nearby Lawrenceburg, Indiana.

This year, Penn National contributed at least $16.1 million through Oct. 24 to the effort to promote the ballot issue, according to state records. The measure would allow the company to build in Columbus and Toledo.

“To have a monopoly in the Columbus market certainly could be a significant property,” Brian McGill, an analyst with Janney Montgomery Scott LLC in Philadelphia, said in a telephone interview. “We view it as a very positive return.”

McGill’s recommendations on Penn National’s shares produced a 49.04 percent return over the past year, ranking him first in a Bloomberg survey of eight analysts.

Supporters of the gambling measure say passage would bring 19,000 construction jobs and 15,000 permanent jobs to the state, where the unemployment rate stood at 10.8 percent as recently as August, a percentage point higher than the national figure. The state’s jobless rate was 10.1 percent in September.

‘Bad Economy’

Opponents say the worst recession since the Great Depression and the push by Penn National for passage will do little to reverse last year’s defeat.

“We had a bad economy last year, when the same argument was brought forward,” said Bob Clegg, spokesman for the campaign dubbed “Wrong Time, Wrong Plan. ‘‘This isn’t like we’re breaking new ground for Ohio.”

Ohio would become the 13th U.S. state to allow casino gambling if the measure is approved.

While passage would add about $4.25 to the value of Penn National stock when the facilities open in three or four years, defeat would have little impact on the shares because the new properties haven’t been priced in, McGill said.

The shares have climbed 19.3 percent this year, trailing the 24.9 percent advance for the Russell 1000 Consumer Discretionary Index. They rose 1.5 percent to $25.50 in Nasdaq Stock Market trading today.

If casinos are approved, Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert, founder and chairman of Livonia, Michigan-based Quicken Loans Inc., would operate gambling halls in Cleveland and Cincinnati.

Poll Results

The measure is opposed by MTR Gaming Group Inc., the Chester, West Virginia-based operator of three horse tracks and gambling centers that company officials say might lose business.

The plan appeared poised for passage, 57 percent to 39 percent, in a poll of 687 registered voters conducted from Oct. 14 through Oct. 20 by the Institute for Policy Research at the University of Cincinnati. It had a margin of error of 3.7 percentage points.

In July, Governor Ted Strickland, a first-term Democrat, signed a budget including $933 million from the installation of 17,500 slot machines at Ohio’s seven horse tracks.

That plan collapsed in September, when the Ohio Supreme Court ruled that opponents should have a chance to put the issue on the November 2010 ballot. To replace lost slots revenue, Strickland asked lawmakers to rescind an $844 million income tax cut that took effect Jan. 1.

The Democratic-controlled House approved the plan in October. It is awaiting action in the Republican-dominated Senate.

To contact the reporter on this story: Dunstan McNichol in Trenton at dmcnichol@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: November 2, 2009 16:30 EST