Nov. 6--Last year, he was a "professional Las Vegas gambler who previously bankrupted one casino and made millions bailing out."

This year, Lyle Berman is a partner and optioned part-owner of casinos planned for Columbus and three other Ohio cities.

Berman's company, Lakes Entertainment, has joined with Penn National Gaming Inc. -- the Pennsylvania-based firm that vilified Berman during the 2008 gambling campaign -- and Cleveland Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert to own the casinos that voters approved in Tuesday's election.

Lakes Entertainment disclosed Wednesday night that it had fronted 10 percent of the cost of this year's casino campaign in exchange for the option to own 10 percent of the equity of casinos in Columbus, Cincinnati, Cleveland and Toledo.

During the hard-fought campaign to win voter approval for those casinos, the Penn National and Gilbert camp repeatedly denied that Berman had a role.

"He is not involved in this campaign in any way," pro-casino spokesman Bob Tenenbaum told The Dispatch on Oct. 7.

Yesterday, Tenenbaum said Berman didn't get involved until Oct. 29, five days before the election. Tenenbaum's account was backed by a spokeswoman for Gilbert and Berman's top deputy.

Berman became a controversial figure in Ohio last year after Penn National, which led opposition to Berman's proposal for a single casino in Clinton County, spent millions of dollars on ads attacking Berman as a greedy and failed businessman.

Last year's measure was trounced at the polls, but Berman and his partners in the effort regrouped and participated in discussions early this year with Penn National, Gilbert and developer Jeff Jacobs about a new casino measure. Jacobs withdrew from the effort and ended up funding the opposition to this year's casino campaign.

Berman disappeared into the background.

The Jacobs-funded opposition campaign repeatedly suggested that Berman would re-emerge as a silent investor in or manager of the casinos, and backers of the ballot measure repeatedly denied that.

"In 2008, Penn spent $38 million to turn Berman into Genghis Khan," Sandy Theis, spokeswoman for the Jacobs-funded opposition, said yesterday. "In 2009, Penn teamed up with him but the campaign said he had 'absolutely no role in the Issue 3 campaign.' "

Another casino opponent, state Rep. Louis Blessing, R-Cincinnati, said the Berman revelation cast further doubt on the casino developers' credibility: "It did not take very long for them to show their true colors."

Berman's No. 2 at Lakes Entertainment, President Timothy Cope, said Berman has been bullish on Ohio and was not influenced by the Penn National-funded ads disparaging him last year.

"It's all business," Cope said. "We're big boys. We understand that it was all business last year also."

Also yesterday, representatives of Ohio's beleaguered horse-racing industry suggested that Gov. Ted Strickland may need to come up with new terms if he still wants slot machines at the state's seven racetracks. Strickland had proposed video slot machines with tax rates and licensing fees higher than what the four casinos approved Tuesday will pay. His proposal was put on hold after the Ohio Supreme Court said it was subject to a referendum.

C. David Paragas, attorney for the racetracks, said, "Certainly we can't ignore the competitive advantage that the casinos will have with their lower tax rate."

Strickland spokeswoman Amanda Wurst said the governor will revisit the terms of the slots-at-racetracks deal if courts allow it to move forward, although not because of the new casinos.

Also yesterday, constitutional experts confirmed that lawmakers can try for another constitutional amendment that would rewrite portions of the one that voters approved Tuesday. Some legislators have suggested that they will go back to voters with new language that would raise the tax and license fees and open the casinos up to competitive bidding.

Others have suggested language for a May 2010 statewide vote that would exempt Columbus from the casino deal because Franklin County voted against it.

"As a general proposition, laws are not stuck in place once they're adopted," said Edward B. Foley, an Ohio State law professor and former state solicitor.

jnash@dispatch.com

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