West Virginia: Gambling Funds Not Sure Thing

Gambling Funds Not Sure Thing

Every year we West Virginians in effect throw the dice in regard to gambling revenue that pumps hundreds of millions of dollars into the state budget. Thus far, our luck has held. Legalized gambling in its various forms has been a reasonably reliable jackpot for the state.

But that is changing. As we predicted years ago, other states have legalized gambling. Pennsylvania has full-fledged casinos. Ohio will have them soon. That has hurt two of our state's four casinos, in Wheeling and Chester.

During the weekend it was reported the primary stockholder of MTR Gaming, which owns the Chester casino and racetrack, is concerned about the company's future. Options "up to and including potential sale of the company" may be discussed. That revelation came on the heels of news that both MTR's chief executive officer and its chief financial officer resigned from the firm.

Financial challenges facing MTR are no secret. Top executives do not resign from companies where they believe the future is bright. Big stockholders do not seek discussions such as those reported unless they are worried.

While any talk of catastrophic events at the Chester casino and track is premature, it is clear MTR is experiencing difficulty. That may have a dramatic effect on gambling revenue for the state of West Virginia.

Yet, to our knowledge, state officials have not begun discussing a future without assured revenue from gambling.

That is no more realistic than an individual walking into a casino with the belief that he's bound to get lucky on a given night.

Once again - as we have urged several times in the past: State officials need to develop a contingency plan to deal with massive loss of gambling revenue. We can't just keep rolling the dice and assuming they will never come up "snake eyes."