Neither rollbacks in the sales tax on food nor state employee pay raises will be tied to an expansion of gambling when the West Virginia Legislature meets in special session next week, Gov. Joe Manchin said Thursday.
However, the state's reliance on revenues from legal gambling will begin declining in 2008 or 2009, so lawmakers should begin thinking about what happens then, Manchin told the editorial board of The Herald-Dispatch during a visit to Huntington on Thursday.
West Virginia's four racetrack casinos have video slot machines.
Pennsylvania now allows video slots, and action in that state could cut into West Virginia's casino business in a few years, Manchin said. The question is whether state government will allow its take from gambling to decline or if it will change the rules of gambling to preserve the revenue stream, Manchin said.
Casino owners want to add some form of what they call table games, which would include blackjack and roulette. Meanwhile, people in many West Virginia communities object to the proliferation of video poker machines. The state refers to video poker as "limited video lottery," but people see the machines as being anything but limited when they go to their city councils to keep them away from schools, churches and playgrounds.
It would be difficult for the state to turn back the clock on limited video lottery when so many entrepreneurs have invested so much money in their licenses and machines. Also, PROMISE scholarships are funded by limited video lottery. And the state borrowed against future video lottery revenues to provide grants to such projects as Pullman Square, the new science building at Marshall University and the new Charleston baseball park.
There may come a time when voters will decide whether they will allow table games at the racetrack casinos in exchange for a gradual phaseout of video lottery. Or there may be some other significant change in gambling down the road.
No matter what the decision, it should be up to the electorate of the entire state of West Virginia, not just the counties where the racetrack casinos are located. The decision affects the entire state, and everyone deserves a vote.
Likewise, any change in gambling should stand on its own merits. It should not be attached to other, unrelated decisions such as education funding or the sales tax on food.