SUPPORTERS of Ohio casino gambling lost big on Election Day.

Both sides burned through a combined $50 million in a fierce campaign over a referendum that would have permitted a huge casino to open southwest of Columbus.

Ads for the proposal featured a sneering young man wearing a University of Michigan ball cap. He gloated about hordes of Ohio residents who travel north to leave a fortune in the gambling palaces of the Wolverine State.

Even that didn't work.

The defeat of Issue 6 has significance for West Virginia as well.

It means West Virginia's gambling industry faces no imminent competitive threat from the west.

West Virginia government has profited handsomely from slot machines for nearly two decades. In Ohio, they remain taboo.

It's just another in a string of differences that divides our two peoples.

A river that is roughly a half-mile wide separates Ohio and West Virginia.

Some believe Ohio was an Indian word for "river of whitecaps" and others say it meant "beautiful river."

Whatever the case, Ohio got naming rights, but West Virginia owns the water.

Despite their proximity, Ohio and West Virginia are worlds apart on some political and cultural matters.

From a West Virginia perspective, Ohioans tend to do peculiar things at the polls.

For example, a Republican is just as likely as a Democrat to be elected in Ohio.

On the other hand, outsiders perceive West Virginia as a place where bloodthirsty, eye-for-an-eye justice might prevail.

In comparison, Ohio is thought to be a land of higher civilization and enlightenment.

But West Virginia doesn't execute people and Ohio does.

In fact, West Virginia hasn't electrocuted anyone since 1959, and wiped capital punishment off the books in 1965. The issue rarely comes up in the Legislature anymore.

Ohio reinstated the death penalty in 1999 and now has 179 convicted killers awaiting lethal injection. Interestingly, Ohio allowed the condemned to ride into eternity in an electric chair until 2002, when it took away that choice.

A stereotypical West Virginia image is a banged-up car on cinderblocks in somebody's front yard.

SUPPORTERS of Ohio casino gambling lost big on Election Day.

Both sides burned through a combined $50 million in a fierce campaign over a referendum that would have permitted a huge casino to open southwest of Columbus.

Ads for the proposal featured a sneering young man wearing a University of Michigan ball cap. He gloated about hordes of Ohio residents who travel north to leave a fortune in the gambling palaces of the Wolverine State.

Even that didn't work.

The defeat of Issue 6 has significance for West Virginia as well.

It means West Virginia's gambling industry faces no imminent competitive threat from the west.

West Virginia government has profited handsomely from slot machines for nearly two decades. In Ohio, they remain taboo.

It's just another in a string of differences that divides our two peoples.

A river that is roughly a half-mile wide separates Ohio and West Virginia.

Some believe Ohio was an Indian word for "river of whitecaps" and others say it meant "beautiful river."

Whatever the case, Ohio got naming rights, but West Virginia owns the water.

Despite their proximity, Ohio and West Virginia are worlds apart on some political and cultural matters.

From a West Virginia perspective, Ohioans tend to do peculiar things at the polls.

For example, a Republican is just as likely as a Democrat to be elected in Ohio.

On the other hand, outsiders perceive West Virginia as a place where bloodthirsty, eye-for-an-eye justice might prevail.

In comparison, Ohio is thought to be a land of higher civilization and enlightenment.

But West Virginia doesn't execute people and Ohio does.

In fact, West Virginia hasn't electrocuted anyone since 1959, and wiped capital punishment off the books in 1965. The issue rarely comes up in the Legislature anymore.

Ohio reinstated the death penalty in 1999 and now has 179 convicted killers awaiting lethal injection. Interestingly, Ohio allowed the condemned to ride into eternity in an electric chair until 2002, when it took away that choice.

A stereotypical West Virginia image is a banged-up car on cinderblocks in somebody's front yard.

In Ohio, that rusty heap might be rolling right on down the road with crummy tires, worn brakes and a coat hanger keeping the exhaust system off the ground.

West Virginia has mandatory annual motor vehicle safety inspections.

Ohio doesn't bother.

On the interstate, when a car is camping in the passing lane, you don't have to see the license plate to know it's from Ohio.

Cars with West Virginia plates are common in grocery store parking lots in Ohio border cities.

That's because Ohio doesn't tax groceries. West Virginia has laid the tax on and taken it off and imposed it again over the years. Now 3 percent, it's being gradually phased out.

Years ago, West Virginians crossed the river in droves to buy  "high test" beer. West Virginia law decreed that beer sold here must contain no more than 3.2 percent alcohol. Virtually every other state, including Ohio, supposedly had stronger beer.

I've always wondered why gigantic corporations like Anheuser Busch or Miller would trouble themselves to brew a special little batch for West Virginia consumption. In fact, I doubt they did.

Unlike Ohio, West Virginia never tolerated the payday lending hustle. Each time one of these outfits tried to establish a presence, Attorney General McGraw would smack it down.

For 13 years, Ohio allowed payday lenders to charge desperate customers an annual interest rate of 391 percent. Finally, Ohioans had their fill. On Nov. 4, they approved another ballot question that effectively puts these predatory enterprises out of business.

West Virginia has 55 county school systems. Ohio has city school districts, local districts, joint vocational local districts and exempted village districts - 720 discrete educational bureaucracies in all.

Ohio teachers are allowed to strike, and in West Virginia strikes are verboten, notwithstanding what happened in 1990.

Ohio teachers have walked out in various districts 70 times in the past quarter-century.

West Virginia is mountainous and Ohio is flat.

West Virginia is interesting and Ohio is dull.

West Virginia has few scruples about gambling. Ohio does have scruples.

Ohio turns down money.

We don't.

Kelly is managing editor of the Daily Mail. He may be reached at 348-1703 or bobke...@dailymail.com.