Dispute erupts over track profit

Vicki Smith

Monday, Dec. 15, 2003 | 9:05 a.m.

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. -- Brooke County plans to sue the West Virginia Racing Commission for letting Wheeling Island Racetrack and Gaming Center move 18 greyhound kennels into the county without also allowing it to share in the track's profit.

County Prosecutor David Cross said relocating the kennels constitutes an expansion of the track's complex to a county that has never passed a local-option referendum on legal gambling. Under state law, counties that host racetrack casino facilities get a percentage of the profits.

In fiscal 2003, Ohio County got a $1.8 million cut from Wheeling Island's net revenues, and the city of Wheeling got $1.04 million.

"Even though we are part of that racetrack complex now ... we have not received anything," Cross said Thursday.

Ohio County residents voted to allow slot machines at Wheeling Island, which now has more than 2,000 machines and approval to operate 2,500. The track this year opened a $68 million addition that includes a 151-room hotel, a 660-seat showroom, two restaurants and 570 additional machines.

Brooke County has never attempted such a local referendum.

"There's been no attempt made to put video lottery machines or any type of racing enterprise in Brooke County," Cross said. "We have no reason to think that's being thought of or contemplated."

But when the track operators asked the Racing Commission for permission to move their kennel compound to Beech Bottom in Brooke County, they raised a serious legal issue that has never been addressed in state statutes, Cross said.

Special counsel William Watson is now pursuing the case and will likely ask a judge to either shut down the kennels or grant Brooke County certain financial rights, Cross said.

In a letter Watson sent to the state attorney general's office last week, he said he plans to file his lawsuit during the first week of January.

Once that happens, he warned, "The track's only recourse will be to petition for a local option election in Brooke County. Given local hostility to this facility, it is not likely to pass."

"The citizens of Brooke County find themselves in a position where they must endure all of the burdens of the location of this facility with little economic benefit to the county," Watson wrote.

Wheeling Island spokeswoman Lesley Campbell declined comment Thursday except to say track officials "are looking forward to meeting with Brooke County officials to see what their concerns are."

Racing Commission Chairman George Sidiropolis has asked the attorney general's office for guidance.

Sidiropolis told The Intelligencer of Wheeling that the kennels should be moved back to Ohio County if the commission's action was wrong.

"I don't want to speculate on the validity of the threatened legal action by Brooke County commissioners; nor can I explain or defend the actions of the racing commission at the time it granted approval to relocate the kennels," said Sidiropolis, who was not on the commission then.

The Racing Commission will hold a special meeting Wednesday to discuss the matter.