Thursday, March 08, 2007

Reports during the weekend that Pennsylvania officials may allow operators
of video gambling casinos to install what amounts to virtual table gambling
make it clear that West Virginia legislators need to act on real table
gambling this week. Video gambling is just now coming on line in the
Keystone State. Officials at West Virginia racetracks - where thousands of
video gambling machines are in operation - worry that the competition to the
north may result in loss of an enormous amount of revenue to the tracks
here. That could mean loss of jobs - as well as a major reduction in the
amount of money state government collects from video gambling. It is being
speculated in Pennsylvania that electronic versions of table gambling,
perhaps with players seated at tables around monitors on which the "games"
are shown, may be considered by state officials. In part because of
Pennsylvania, racetrack officials say they need to be allowed to add
full-scale casino-style table gambling in order to be able to compete. A
bill that would clear the way for them to do so already has been approved by
the House of Delegates. The state Senate is to vote on its version of the
bill - one much better than the House measure - this week. If it passes the
Senate, that bill and the House measure will have to be reconciled by a
conference committee. The final version would have to be approved by both
the House and the state Senate. There isn't much time left in the
legislative session for all of that to happen. The session ends at midnight
Saturday. Clearly, lawmakers have no time to waste if they are to ensure
that a table gambling bill gets to a final vote. We encourage members of
both the state Senate and the House of Delegates to work quickly - but
responsibly - on the table gambling measure. As we have noted previously,
the state Senate version offers a far more equitable distribution of the
proceeds of table gambling to the people of West Virginia. It is the version
that should be accepted by both houses.