Thursday, February 08, 2007

The introduction of legislation that will greatly expand gambling in the
state has finally arrived, and I am firmly opposed to it. As a construction
worker, I could possibly personally benefit from all the new construction.
However, as a resident of the state, the cost to our social services will
far outweigh any benefits. Our state lottery director is functioning as a
paid lobbyist on behalf of the four racetracks and not as civil servant.
And, several legislators seem more intent upon getting a "good price" rather
than a good reason why we should even be considering this expansion. I see
from the campaign expenditures in the last election that no one in the
Cabell delegation took money from the gambling interests. Furthermore, not
one tax dollar is likely to arrive in this county due to an expansion of
tabletop gaming. Hence, it should be simple for both of our senators and all
six of our delegates to stand united in their opposition to this issue. The
lottery director projects annual revenue from this expansion to be in the
neighborhood of $180 million gross profit. As a population of 1.8 million,
these gaming interests view each citizen as an annual $100 dollar profit on
this expansion alone. If I am to be seen only in terms of dollars and cents,
I want my legislator to get something that will actually be of benefit to my
way of life. I would propose that these gaming interests pay off our
underfunded public employees and teachers pension plans as the price to get
a license. Then we can begin to haggle over an appropriate percentage of the
gross profits. This would prove that the tracks truly want to act as
partners in the state.