Generally speaking, gambling is banned on Cleveland Metroparks property. But commissioners this month changed the park system’s rules to allow for a new source of revenue: the Ohio Lottery. 

Parks staff have talked with the Ohio Lottery Commission about the possibility of selling lottery products, Metroparks Chief Legal and Ethics Officer Rosalina Fini said at the July 17 board meeting. She didn’t specify whether that meant scratch-offs, Mega Millions tickets, Keno monitors or something else. 

“We all have our eyes on the cuts that are being contemplated in Columbus,” she said. “And their mantra is that governmental entities need to diversify their revenue streams. And that is exactly the model that we have captured here, and that we are living and breathing.”

Metroparks spokesperson Jacqueline Gerling told Weekly Chatter that the parks system is only considering lottery machines at some locations. “Nothing is concrete,” she wrote in an email.

So for now, no betting pools on the name of the zoo’s next kangaroo joey or sloth bear cub. 

Documenter Alicia Moreland was on hand to catch the news at the Metroparks’ board meeting. Read her notes here or listen to the Public Meetings Report podcast below.