Poker in DC Area?? We May Get LUCKY!

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From the Charleston Gazette 3/04/05
http://www.wvgazette.com/section/News/2005030336?pt=0


Gambling bill has powerful support

House leadership, unions throw weight behing table games

By Scott Finn
Staff writer

Powerful interests and lawmakers are lining up behind a bill to legalize table games at West Virginia four racetracks.

The bill was introduced Thursday, on the same day about 150 racetrack employees and supporters rallied at the state Cultural Center. It would allow voters in the four counties with racetracks — Kanawha, Ohio, Hancock, and Jefferson — to approve or reject table games.

Charleston Mayor Danny Jones challenged gambling opponents to come up with another way to increase employment in West Virginia. He estimated each of the four counties with racetracks would gain 500 well-paying jobs with benefits.

“What is your plan? Where are your 500 jobs?” he asked, sparking cheers from the crowd. “I think we are entitled to have the freedom as a county to vote on this proposal.”

The West Virginia Council of Churches is fighting the bill to legalize table games. At the very least, the group wants a statewide referendum on the issue.

“The voters statewide have a right to decide this issue,” said the Rev. Dennis Sparks, the council’s director. “If a person becomes a gambling addict, the entire state must pay the cost.”

For several years, gambling proponents have tried without success to legalize blackjack, poker, and other games run by live people.

Neighboring states either have or are close to approving video slot machines at their racetracks, which could cut West Virginia’s gambling jobs and government revenue.

“The timing is ripe, with Pennsylvania passing a bill [to legalize video slot machines],” said Ted Arneault, chief executive officer of MTR Gaming, the parent company of Mountaineer Racetrack and Gaming Center in Hancock County.

The bill has some powerful supporters in the House of Delegates, including Speaker Bob Kiss, D-Raleigh, Finance Chairman Harold Michael, D-Hardy, and Judiciary Chairman Jon Amores, D-Kanawha.

The head of the House labor caucus, Delegate Mike Caputo, D-Marion, also co-sponsors the bill. The Racing Association hired former state AFL-CIO leader Jim Bowen to lobby for the legislation. Many union members work at the tracks, where pay and benefits are often superior to similar jobs outside the gambling industry.

In the Senate, the sponsors included three Republicans: Sens. Karen Facemyer, R-Jackson, Charles Lanham, R-Mason, and Andy McKenzie, R-Ohio, as well as Judiciary Chairman Jeff Kessler, D-Marshall, and Sen. Larry Edgell, D-Wetzel.

The proposed bill would give 12 percent of table game revenues to the state, and 88 percent to the racetracks.

That’s a lot less than the nearly 50-50 split the state receives from video lottery machines. Table game supporters say they have to pay a lot more in personnel costs to run table games, and that the cut is not out of line with other states.

Of the state’s cut of the gambling proceeds, 86 percent would go to the general revenue fund for lawmakers to spend as they see fit. Two percent each would go to the counties and municipalities where the tracks are located. Eight percent would pay for the purse, or prizes for the owners of horses and dogs. The remaining two percent would go to the state’s tourism promotion fund, which also helps promote the tracks, and a pension fund for racetrack employees.

Gov. Joe Manchin has said he would sign a bill that allows local referendums on table games. In 2003, Manchin was a speaker at a “racino” conference at Mountaineer, and in 2004, Arneault hosted a fundraiser for his campaign.

The state’s racetracks employ about 4,600 employees and produced $323 million in revenue for state government last year.

A recent study funded by the Racing Association found West Virginia could gain more than 1,700 jobs and keep gambling tax revenues from decreasing if table games are approved at all four of the state’s racetracks.

Without table games, state government would lose at least $58 million in tax revenue and 508 jobs by 2007 because of competition from Pennsylvania, which recently legalized slot machines at its racetracks, the report says.

Jeffrey Cox of Hurricane attended the rally. He works in housekeeping at Tri-State Racetrack and Gaming Center, one of about 800 employees at the Cross Lanes dog track.

Cox said he might apply for one of the table-games jobs if the bill passes and Kanawha County voters approve. He heard the jobs pay about $35,000 a year and include good health-care benefits.

“People want to play these games,” he said. “They shouldn’t be restricted in enjoying themselves the way they want.”

The Rev. Tom Grey, executive director of the National Coalition Against Gambling Expansion, said in November that West Virginia is addicted to gambling revenue and unwilling to seek treatment. Table games are only a temporary solution.

“That’s the denial argument: one more pull and I’ll quit,” Grey said. “You’re what I call a pathological gambling state. You are chasing your loss now.”

To contact staff writer Scott Finn, use e-mail or call 357-4323.