Wednesday, March 28, 2007

Gov. Joe Manchin has signed the bill allowing local option elections for
table game gambling in the state's four counties with racetrack casinos, but
the debate is not over yet. Manchin signed the bill Wednesday, one day after
the Ohio County Commission scheduled a special election for Saturday, June
9, to allow voters to decide whether to allow Wheeling Island Racetrack and
Gaming Center to have blackjack, poker, roulette, craps and similar games.
Mountaineer Race Track & Gaming Center in Hancock County will petition the
Hancock County Commission at its April 5 meeting for a special election in
early June, spokeswoman Tamara Cronin told The Associated Press. The state
has two other tracks that could ask their county commissions for elections.
Both, however, are in areas where the push for gambling is not as strong as
in the Northern Panhandle. The West Virginia Family Foundation plans to go
to court to stop the Ohio County election and to overturn the law, which the
Legislature approved at its regular session this year. "We're putting the
pieces together now," Kevin McCoy, executive director, told the AP. "We're
pretty much ready to go forward." The West Virginia Family Foundation says
the Legislature did not have the legal authority to enact a bill to allow
local option elections for table games. That requires a constitutional
amendment voted on by the whole state, the foundation says. We have our
doubts about the gambling bill, partly for constitutional reasons and partly
because it solidifies state government's reliance on gambling even more.
Unless the four racetrack casinos develop some awesome business plans, this
is an arms race West Virginia cannot win if Pennsylvania, Ohio and Kentucky
jump into casino gambling. If West Virginia loses, it has a big hole in its
state budget. What started in 1984 as a state lottery offering scratch-off
tickets only has developed into a system that wants to emulate Las Vegas or
Atlantic City. If the Family Foundation pursues its lawsuit, the debate over
casino gambling definitely will not be over until the Supreme Court renders
its judgment. And if the court rules against the new law, it will be back in
the Legislature soon after. So keep watching. This one's not over yet.