CLEVELAND, Ohio - A challenge to the Ohio constitutional amendment that legalized casinos here has been dismissed in Franklin County Common Pleas Court.

Gambling is not a fundamental right, and Ohio has "a rational basis for for implementing the casino restrictions and regulations at issue," ruled Judge Chris Brown. "Gambling is a vice that that may be limited, restricted or banned by the state in its entirety, in order to in order to preserve the public's health and welfare."

Frederick Kinsey of Columbiana County had argued his constitutional right of equal protection was violated because only a few companies could operate casinos and he could not apply to be a casino operator.

Brown rejected that claim, saying said Kinsey was "not a member of a suspect class."

"The Court finds the State has a legitimate interest in regulating casino  gaming," Brown wrote. "Gambling is a  vice that may be limited, restricted, or banned by the State in its entirety, in order to preserve the public's health and welfare."

The ruling in the five-year-old case can be appealed.

See the ruling below or click here if on a mobile device.

In 2011, 11 individuals, an Akron-based company and the Ohio Roundtable sued the state Lottery Commission and Casino Commission, Ohio Gov. John Kasich and Tax Commissioner Joe Testa, challenging the constitutionality of the amendment voters approved in 2009 to allow casinos, as well as laws from 2009 and 2011 that cleared the way for the video lottery terminals, or electronic slots, to be used at horse tracks.  

A Franklin County court dismissed the suit after a judge ruled the plaintiffs did not have standing -- the right to file the suit and be heard. An appellate court agreed, prompting an appeal to the Ohio Supreme Court. 

In March the Supreme Court agreed that all plaintiffs except Kinsey did not have standing.

Challenge to casino gambling can proceed

The dismissal of the case "provides legal certainty to Ohio's four casinos, and substantiates the legal structure of the Ohio casino law approved by voters, the General Assembly, and the Ohio Casino Control Commission if this case is not appealed," said John H. Oberle, chair of the Ohio State Bar Association Gaming and Liquor Law Committee, in a statement.