Ohioans can vote at 18.

They can buy cigarettes at that age.

Soon they might be able to play video slot machines.

The legal age to gamble at the state’s new ”racinos” — combination horse tracks and slots parlors — would be 18 under proposed guidelines the Ohio Lottery Commission released Wednesday.

Gov. Ted Strickland and the state legislature last month approved a plan to install up to 2,500 video slots at each of Ohio’s seven horse tracks as a way to raise hundreds of millions of dollars for the state budget.

The Lottery Commission is overseeing the process. It plans to meet Monday to adopt the proposed racino rules, which outline everything from the minimum age to gamble to the state’s cut of the proceeds.

If approved, Ohio would join three other states with the lowest minimum age permitted to gamble. New York, Oklahoma and Rhode Island allow gambling at 18, according to the American Gaming Association, a trade group in Washington, D.C.

Other states with commercial casinos, including those surrounding Ohio, prohibit gambling until age 21. (Native
American casinos operate outside of state restrictions.)

”That’s obviously disappointing,” said the Rev. John Edgar, who chairs the United Methodist antigambling task force in Ohio. ”It’s one more reason why this [is] a bad idea.

”There has been real concern about the fact that gambling addiction has been increasing at a disproportionate rate among teens,” he said. ”And there is some indication that when folks start gambling younger, they are more likely to become addicted, and the addiction tends to be more severe.”

Age 18 is the minimum to purchase lottery tickets in Ohio, but Edgar said he had hoped the state would set the video slots age at 21.

Greg Tisch, 43, a bartender at the Winking Lizard in Fairlawn, said he had no problem with the proposed age guideline.

”I personally believe that when you’re an adult, you’re an adult,” he said. ”They are adults in the court of law, they can go to war, you should be able to take care of yourself, too.”

Many of the guidelines in the Lottery Commission proposal have been made public before. Highlights include:

• Applications for gaming licenses are due Sept. 15, along with a $100,000 nonrefundable application fee.

• Each track owner or permit holder must make the first of five $13 million license payments — a total of $65 million — by Sept. 15. The state can fine applicants $15 million and $100,000 a day for not meeting the payment deadlines.

• Licenses are valid for 10 years.

• The track owners or permit holders must submit a 10-year business plan and a security plan.

• The state will take a 50 percent cut of the proceeds after payouts.

• Each permit holder must make $80 million worth of improvements at the track over five years, with at least $20 million coming in the first year.

• The state will lease the video slots.

• The permit holders must provide a program for problem gamblers.

The guidelines do not set a specific date that the racinos can open. Lottery spokeswoman Jeannie Roberts said officials hope they will open in May.

Brock Milstein, owner of Northfield Park, a harness racing track in northern Summit County, declined to comment on the proposal Wednesday, saying he hadn’t reviewed the guidelines.

Roberts said the commission is expected to approve the guidelines Monday and then forward them to the governor. They also must be approved by the state’s Joint Committee on Agency Rule Review, she said.