Industry News
Table Gaming Coming to West Virginia
Racetracks in West Virginia will pay an additional on percent of net profits for the privilege of offering table gambling under legislation passed by the state's Senate Finance Committee.
The tax rate will be raised from 35 to 36 percent under an amendment by state Sen. Vic Sprouse, R-Kanawha. The additional fund would be used for the gradual reduction of limited video lottery machines in West Virginia communities — not those already at racetracks.
All legislation must be passed before the lawmakers adjourn at midnight March 10, insiders said.
If the measure is approved, officials at the state’s four racetracks would get the right to petition to place a local referendum on table gambling before their respective county’s voters. The racetracks are located in Ohio, Hancock, and Kanawha and Jefferson counties.
Local state Sens. Jeff Kessler, D-Marshall; Ed Bowman, D-Hancock; and Andy McKenzie, R-Ohio, crafted most of the changes inserted into the Senate’s table gambling legislation.
“We are pleased that the Finance Committee adopted the changes we made to the bill,” Bowman said.
Bowman, both a Finance Committee member and an employee of the Mountaineer Race Track and Gaming Resort, was permitted to vote on the bill Thursday. He asked Chairman Sen. Walt Helmick, D-Pocahontas, for a ruling on whether he would be allowed.
Helmick informed Bowman he falls into the class of many teachers who serve in the Legislature who are permitted to vote on teachers’ pay raises. Bowman voted in favor.
McKenzie said it was important that the bill allow county residents to vote on table gambling, and that money generated from table gambling be returned to racetrack communities.
As a result of the changes, the city of Wheeling is expected to receive an additional $800,000 annually; the city of Bethlehem, $50,000; and the town of Bethany, $18,000, according to McKenzie.
Kessler, meantime, has suggested that the state mull changes in the number of limited video lottery machines permitted in the state when the licenses for these machines come up for renewal in 2011.
Both Marshall and Arneault have remained in Charleston as the legislation is considered by lawmakers — though Arneault was absent Wednesday, as he attended the opening of his new track and gambling facility in Erie, Pa.
West Virginia Racing Association President John Cavacini added that the tracks, thus far, have not actively opposed the tax rates imposed upon them in the legislation.
“We felt we acted in good faith by accepting them,” he said.
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