Wednesday, Jan. 5, 2005 | 9:39 a.m.
CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Advocates of adding casino table games to West Virginia's four racetracks hope a statewide poll will drum up support among both the public and legislators.
"We're trying to find out how much they realize how much the racetracks are contributing to the state," said John Cavacini, president of the West Virginia Racing Association.
Cavacini's group has commissioned a Washington, D.C., firm to survey at least 600 state residents. With results expected next week, Cavacini hopes the poll will measure the mood for legislation to allow a vote on legalizing table games in the counties that host the tracks.
Aided by an industry study, Cavacini and other local option supporters argue that table games will blunt the loss of gamblers to Pennsylvania, which will soon debut the sort of video slot machines long popular at West Virginia's tracks.
Among other questions, the poll asks residents whether they would vote for their legislators if they backed the local option bill. Favorable numbers might provide political cover for some but not many lawmakers, according to the sponsor of last year's local option bill.
"There are a lot people to whom it's a values or moral issue, so I don't think you're going to switch those people," said Sen. Andy McKenzie, R-Ohio. "There's a group of people in the Legislature from southern West Virginia and they're against gambling, and it's not a matter of being a Republican or a Democrat."
The poll asks residents about their religious beliefs and whether they object to gambling on moral grounds. Table games opponents believe the survey will find a healthy portion who do.
"It's a moral issue because of what it does economically," said the Rev. Dennis Sparks, executive director of the West Virginia Council of Churches. "We think it will hurt more people than it will benefit, that it will cost more money than it will bring in."
Sparks believes the poll should query residents about a statewide vote on table games, which his group considers a fairer route than local elections.
"One individual county or area is not an island," he said. "If there's a negative impact, it's the entire state that will have to come in to help."
Cavacini said the poll also focuses on "the economic revenues and benefits derived from the racetracks."
Largely because of video lottery slot machines, the four independently owned tracks together form a multibillion-dollar business. They employ 4,600 people and have provided $1.2 billion to state, county and local government coffers since 1994.
The racetrack association commissioned a different company to poll West Virginians on gambling and table games in June 2003. That survey found that only 8 percent considered stopping gambling from expanding a top priority. But more than half of those surveyed considered the tracks of little or no importance to the state's economy.
That earlier poll asked about table games several different ways. It got its best response by hinging their legalization on a local election, with 56 percent supporting them under that condition.
Gov. Bob Wise said he would convene a special legislative session for the proposal if supporters could show him sufficient votes. But with such a session requiring at least three days, and Wise leaving office Jan. 17, tackling the topic during the regular session next month appears increasingly likely.
McKenzie hails from the Northern Panhandle, home to two of the tracks and the ones most threatened by Pennsylvania slots. He introduced last year's bill at the request of the Hancock County Commission, and said he will do so again if asked. He also believes the proposal has a better shot in a special session.
"Too many good issues get lost during a regular session," McKenzie said. "At a special session, table gaming would get adequate debate."
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