WHEELING - Ohio's vote this week to allow four casinos in the Buckeye State should remind West Virginia's elected leaders not to depend on gambling tax money to balance the state's budget, said West Virginia Sen. Ed Bowman.
"I remember standing up in committee five years ago and cautioning my colleagues about spending gaming revenue for general fund purposes," said Bowman, D-Hancock. "I tried to alert them in advance.
"The passage of this issue will adversely affect us."
But it won't happen immediately, he and other West Virginia leaders agree.
Ohio voters last week passed Issue 3, which authorizes one casino in each of the following cities Cincinnati, Columbus, Cleveland and Toledo. It also permits any slot machine or table games there that are permitted in neighboring states such as West Virginia.
Both Wheeling Island Hotel-Casino-Racetrack and the Mountaineer Casino Racetrack & Resort in Chester seek to attract visitors from Ohio. Mountaineer draws nearly 66 percent of its patrons from that state while Wheeling Island brings 38 percent.
It is not expected the Ohio casinos would be built until late 2012 or early 2013, and West Virginia's leaders see this as giving the state time to prepare for the impact as it already is absorbing hits in gambling tax revenue stemming from the opening of slot machine casinos in Pennsylvania.
Nancy Bulla, spokeswoman for the West Virginia Lottery Commission, said it is understood that gambling in Ohio will have an impact on West Virginia gambling tax revenue.
"But to what degree, we do not know," she said. "Until they have full implementation, we won't have full numbers upon which to base our projected revenue.
"But nobody is considering this a crisis."
West Virginia brings in between $400 million and $500 million annually in gambling revenue.
Bulla acknowledged that West Virginia's gambling revenue in September was down 7 percent from a year earlier as more slots went online in Pennsylvania. She wouldn't place a cash value on that 7 percent.
"But it's hardly dramatic. It's hardly a landslide," she commented.
Bowman, who is an employee at Mountaineer , can think of one action the Legislature might take to help West Virginia's tracks though he doesn't think it will go over well with other state legislators.
"We could lower the tax base on gaming facilities, but that's not an easy thing to do in Charleston," he said. "Money is already getting tight for us. And when it comes to any gaming issue, there are already many against it."
Bowman continued that "it all comes down to customer service, and we have to be able to offer the best customer service to be able to attract customers."
Delegate Randy Swartzmiller, D-Hancock, meanwhile, thinks Mountaineer has something else going for it, as well.
He's betting the horses will keep people coming to the casinos.
"Horse racing at Mountaineer is an asset, and we are truly blessed," he said. "It brings in another customer base. They end up eating at the restaurants there, and then trying their luck at the machines.
"If not for the horsemen, there wouldn't be anything there. They are the foundation of Mountaineer."
Swartzmiller also speculates that the rebounding of the economy will come into play.
"As soon as it does, Mountaineer will add the amenities it promised, and will stay ahead a little bit," he continued.
"As for state, it's too early to tell how much of an impact Ohio gambling will have. I think we will still have the upper hand. Diversity goes a long way when people are looking to go somewhere."