Ohio voters have nixed a bid to bring casino gambling to the Buckeye State.

Some 63 percent of Ohio voters opposed the controversial casino measure, otherwise known as Issue 6. The initiative would have cleared the way for construction of a $600,000 gaming complex on a 97-acre parcel near I-71 between Cincinnati and Columbus.

Supporters argued the new casino would create as many as 5,000 jobs and generate $800 million a year in revenue, be taxed at a 30 percent rate, and permit Ohioans to keep their gaming dollars at home rather than fatten the coffers of gaming interests in Indiana, Michigan, West Virginia and elsewhere.

Critics, however, contend a loophole in the wording of the amendment might have left the state holding the bag if a tax-exempt tribal casino were to open.

It's the fourth gambling-related measure Ohio voters have turned down over the past two decades.

Officials at three West Virginia casinos whose customer base would have been impacted by the gaming complex -- Tri-State Racetrack & Gaming Center in Cross Lanes, Wheeling Island Hotel-Casino-Racetrack in Wheeling and MTR Gaming's Mountaineer Casino, Racetrack & Resort in Chester -- were not available for comment.

Last week, however, during a conference call discussing MTR's 3rd Quarter results, former President and CEO Ted Arneault had said a slim margin of separation -- say, 51 percent to 49 percent -- could be read as a positive, even if Ohio's Issue 6 was defeated.