WVa. governor signs bill legalizing video poker

Randy Coleman

Wednesday, May 9, 2001 | 10:19 a.m.

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Gov. Bob Wise's tenacious, 14-month campaign to regulate the video poker industry ended quietly as he signed the bill into law with a borrowed pen on the corner of a staff member's desk.

"Pretty anticlimactic, wouldn't you say?" Wise's legislative director, Keith Burdette, said Tuesday.

"He had been to dinner last night, and he came back in to work. He hadn't even been to his office when he stopped at my office door," Burdette said. "I looked up and said, 'Well, when do you want to sign the gray machines bill?'

"He said, 'Right now.' "

The signing took place around 8 p.m. Monday night, Burdette said.

Wise's bill, HB102, had endured seemingly endless hours of debate during this year's legislative session, first in committee rooms and later before the full House of Delegates and the Senate. The proposal had been the cornerstone of his campaign to unseat incumbent Republican Gov. Cecil Underwood.

The legislation legalizes and taxes 9,000 video poker machines, and raises the maximum bet on slot machines at West Virginia's four racetracks from $2 to $5. It is expected to raise at least $72 million for next year's budget.

The law funds the merit-based PROMISE Scholarship program, the School Building Authority, an infrastructure fund, higher education, park improvements and a pay raise for teachers, school service personnel, correctional officers and State Police troopers.

House Speaker Bob Kiss, D-Raleigh, said the new law might be challenged in court, so he's not declaring long-term victory. But Kiss said the Legislature did the right thing by passing the bill.

"It's an issue that's been around here at least for the last four or five years, and the worst thing we could have done was nothing. The worst thing would have been to just watch the number of machines continue to grow and the gambling industry proliferate," Kiss said.

Opponents of the so-called gray machines law have questioned its constitutionality.

Republicans point to an outdated section of the law that requires racetracks' coin-drop slot machines to contain ticket printers. The requirement was dropped in 1999.

The language doesn't affect the legislation's validity, however, because coin-drop machines are defined elsewhere in the law, Wise administration lawyer Alex Macia said.

Another issue arose Monday when some legislators questioned whether a majority of senators passed the bill during a special session last month. The vote was 17-15 with two members absent.

The question is whether a majority vote is based on the number of members present or the number elected, which in the 34-member Senate would be 18.

Macia and Senate President Earl Ray Tomblin, D-Logan, said the majority of elected members is required only on votes in the house where bills originate. The video poker bill originated in the House of Delegates.

"I think it's a perfect ending to the entire issue. The issue was flawed and divisive from the start," said Senate Minority Leader Vic Sprouse, R-Kanawha. "At the end of the day what we have is a technically flawed bill that, appropriately, is probably going to be challenged in court."

Macia countered, "We believe the bill is fine. Any technicalities that may need to be addressed, we can look at a later time."

Wise is of a similar mindset. When asked recently if technical flaws would keep him from signing the legislation, he said, "Is the Kanawha River flowing backward?"

Wise had until midnight Thursday to either sign or veto the legislation.

Wise repeatedly had said he proposed the legislation to stop illegal gambling and to infuse some much-needed money into West Virginia's struggling economy.

While video poker games are legal for amusement purposes, Wise and others said they had become illegal gambling devices because payouts were being made.

A recent survey by the state Alcohol Beverage Control Administration found about 13,500 machines in the state, Wise spokeswoman Amy Shuler Goodwin said.

Next January, the existing machines become contraband.

Bars, clubs, restaurants and fraternal organizations that win the right to operate the games must obtain state Lottery Commission-approved machines. Wise wanted to restrict the machines to places not open to children.

Machine permits will be distributed though a combination of grandfathering and an open bid process.