Sunday, February 04, 2007

Heading into the second third of this legislative session, the casino
gambling war officially is on, and opposition forces wasted no time Tuesday
with words and threats. In the House, a longtime foe, Delegate Kelli
Sobonya, R-Cabell, is preparing 40 amendments to the proposal that would let
voters in dog-and-horse track counties of Hancock, Jefferson, Ohio and
Kanawha vote on table games. "I have every intention to kill the bill," she
declared, moments before the House version of the table measure game was
officially put on the list of fresh bills. "I believe absolutely it will
require a statewide vote, a change in the Constitution." Mindful a statewide
vote would assuredly bury table games, industry figures are steeling
themselves for this tack, one they argue isn't supported by the
Constitution.
But Sobonya strongly disagrees, pointing to the constitutional amendment
needed to approve scratch-off games by a state-run lottery. "It's not what
people envisioned when they approved of the lottery, not Las Vegas-styled
casino games," she said. Republicans are divided in both chambers on the
issue. In fact, the first lawmakers listed as co-sponsors in the Senate are
Sens. Karen Facemyer, R-Jackson, and Andy McKenzie, R-Ohio. The gambling
industry is trying to use the jobs argument to brush the Constitution under
the rug," Sobonya complained. "I'm here to say if they want to crack open
the code, we need to make it beneficial to the state of West Virginia. If
you have a West Virginia gaming industry and tracks willing to spend $50
million for a slot license in Pennsylvania, they can do it here."
In the Beckley area, Ray Lambert, chairman of the West Virginia Family
Foundation, sees table games as another expansion of gambling. "We've
already seen the harm that gambling has done to West Virginia families in
that it's a regressive tax on those who can least afford it," Lambert said.
"Their hopes and dreams are placed upon winning the lottery, when, in fact,
all they're doing is taking money from the families that otherwise could be
used to pay bills, put clothes on their children and food on their tables."
Lambert's position, mirroring that of Sobonya, is that any vote should be
put before the entire state, not just the four counties directly affected,
because "the negative impact" will embrace all of West Virginia, he said. As
a 29-year business operator, Lambert said "it infuriates me" the state taxes
businesses and individuals, and uses those dollars to compete with state
businesses by promoting gambling. Lambert suggested the state abide by a
long-held credo of the medical community and "do no harm" to the electorate
by approving gambling legislation. Otherwise, he warned, expanding gambling
through table games would merely be "breeding a new wave of addicts" whose
costs will be borne by society at large.