Horseshoe Casino Cincinnati's dry run generates $152K for four local nonprofits

CINCINNATI - Many Tri-State residents may have won big during the Horseshoe Casino Cincinnati’s sneak peek last week, but several local nonprofit organizations are also cashing in.

The casino's controlled demonstration on Feb. 27 generated $152,595 in gross gaming proceeds during the eight-hour event, according to a news release. And in a breakfast presentation Thursday, Kevin Kline, the casino's senior vice president and general manager, presented checks for $40,000 to each of four local nonprofits selected to share the proceeds. That total included an additional $1,850 of non-gaming proceeds from the event that the casino donated to each organization.

The four winning nonprofits were: ArtsWave , the Cincinnati-Hamilton County Community Action Agency , Talbert House and Freestore Foodbank's Cincinnati Cooks job training program.

Freestore Foodbanks’s $40,000 donation will offset the cost for 11 students to go through their Cincinnati Cooks program, which is a free, 10-week program that prepares students for work in the food service industry. It costs Freestore Foodbank $3,500 per student in the program, said the organization’s Public Relations Specialist Sarah Cook.

“It’s helping 11 students and helping that many people potentially enter the work force,” Cook said. “It’s really helping us serve the community the way we want to serve the community.”

In the training program, professional cooks work with the students to teach them culinary skills, as well as job and life skills. The goal, Cook said, is help students succeed both in the kitchen and in their personal lives.

The donation may help the casino find employees down the road. Horseshoe Casino has hired at least 30 people who have completed the Cincinnati Cooks job training, Cook said.

For more information about Cincinnati Cooks, go to http://fsfbmedia.org/beta/programs/cincinnati-cooks/ .