Legislation that would allow county voters to permit table gambling at West
Virginia's four racetracks is one step closer to becoming law. The West
Virginia Senate passed the table gambling legislation Tuesday by a vote of
20-13. The amended House Bill 2718 then went back to the House of Delegates
for concurrence. House members will now be asked to approve changes to the
measure made in the Senate, and this could occur as soon as this afternoon.
The House's concurrence would give the bill final passage and send it on to
Gov. Joe Manchin for his signature. House Majority Leader Joe DeLong,
D-Hancock, thinks the House ultimately will approve the bill. "It will be a
lot easier for us to do it after the changes the Senate made during the
second and third readings," DeLong said. "The allocation language that came
out in the legislation during the committees was nothing more than a
disaster. But on the second and third readings they made changes, and this
brought comfort to many of the House. We will deal with it on Wednesday one
way or another." If the House opts not to concur with the Senate's changes,
the legislation will be negotiated by a conference committee comprised of
members of both chambers. Manchin has indicated he would sign a table
gambling bill, providing it included a provision calling for a referendum
"vote of the people." The legislation currently before lawmakers permits
officials at West Virginia's four racetracks to petition their respective
county commissions to place a table gambling referendum on the ballot.
Opponents to the legislation had sought to add an amendment calling for a
statewide referendum, but this was rejected in the Senate. Prior to
Tuesday's
vote in the Senate, the West Virginia Council of Churches held a vigil
outside the Senate chamber and prayed for legislators to have guidance in
their decision. "People ask us why we've been here when it seemed like an
already done deal," said West Virginia Council of Churches President Dennis
Sparks. "It's because we wanted to set the momentum for when this goes to a
county vote. We will immediately start to work. "In the Northern Panhandle,
the vote isn't as clear cut as some may say," he added. Surveys of voter
opinion have been biased toward the tracks and table gambling, Sparks
claimed. But he gave the racetracks credit for "being organized."