Table Games

charlestown@herald-mail.com CHARLES TOWN, W.Va. - Lobbyists working to gain support for a controversial bill in the state Legislature that would allow Charles Town Races & Slots and three other racetracks in the state to have casino table games have been given more time to get support for the measure, local lawmakers said Tuesday. Lobbyists pushing for passage of the bill have been given about 72 hours to round up votes for House Bill 4314, said Del. Locke Wysong, D-Jefferson.

SHEPHERDSTOWN, W.Va. -- There can be no horse racing without slots and no slots without horse racing. One cannot survive without the other. Such was the assessment made Thursday night by Al Britton, general manager of Charles Town Races & Slots, at a public forum on the upcoming Dec. 5 countywide referendum on whether to bring table games to the Charles Town slots mecca and thoroughbred race track. Nearly 100 people attended the forum in the Shepherdstown Mens Club sponsored by the Jefferson County League of Women Voters.

o Lawmaker changes stand on table games o Racetrack officials: Table games would bring jobs to Jefferson County o Measuring impact part of table games equation CHARLES TOWN, W.Va. -- Al Britton is betting Jefferson County residents will vote "yes" on table games on Dec. 5. If they do, he predicts the first card will be flipped in June. Britton, general manager of Charles Town Races & Slots, will know on the night of the vote whether table games will be added to the more than 5,000 slot machines already in place at the sprawling gambling mecca on the outskirts of Charles Town.

MARTINSBURG, W.Va. -- Gov. Joe Manchin on Wednesday approved legislation that allows West Virginia counties with planning commissions but no zoning to regulate the location of strip clubs. Senate Bill 1010 essentially allows Berkeley County, which does not have zoning, to reinstate a 2004 ordinance for strip clubs that was deemed invalid last year in circuit court. SB 1010 was made effective upon passage June 2 by lawmakers who convened in special session to consider 15 bills.

CHARLESTON, W.Va. - The House and Senate gave final approval Thursday to legislation that would allow Charles Town Races & Slots and three other racetracks in the state to pursue blackjack, roulette and similar casino table games. Gov. Joe Manchin said he expects to sign the bill. Acting on a recurring issue that dominated much of this session, each chamber voted to approve the bill (HB 2718), which permits local elections in each of the four track counties on whether to authorize the games.

CHARLES TOWN, W.VA. Jefferson County's casino table games referendum is over, but the level of debate stayed high Sunday as a Charles Town Races & Slots official lashed out at opponents like Del. John Doyle and Shepherdstown, W.Va., residents over the defeat of the games. John Finamore, senior vice president of regional operations for Penn National Gaming Inc., which owns the local thoroughbred track, said he thinks the concerns that track officials raised about increasing gambling competition from other states will become clear when Maryland starts getting serious about allowing slot machines.

CHARLES TOWN, W.VA. charlestown@herald-mail.com About a dozen Jefferson County business leaders and a local mayor boarded a bus Monday for Charleston, W.Va., to lobby for a casino table games bill that has been criticized by some lawmakers. About 15 people, including Charles Town Mayor Peggy Smith; Paulette Sprinkle, executive director of the Jefferson County Convention and Visitors Bureau; and Ronnie Marcus, president of the board of directors of the Convention and Visitors Bureau, departed from the Turf Motel along East Washington Street, Sprinkle and Marcus said.

MARTINSBURG, W.Va. -- In a special session Tuesday, West Virginia lawmakers overwhelmingly passed a bill that could entice Jefferson County voters to approve the addition of table games at Charles Town Races & Slots. With Gov. Joe Manchin's signature on House Bill 102 assured, the only question that remains is whether voters will take the bait, assuming it's offered to them. Racetrack owner Penn National Gaming Inc. has not set a deadline to decide whether to pursue a second referendum on table games, which include blackjack and roulette, according to John Finamore, the company's senior vice president for regional operations.

MARTINSBURG, W.Va. -- Legislation that could make table games at Charles Town Races & Slots more palatable for Jefferson County voters passed the W.Va. Senate on Wednesday, but the bill's passage in the House of Delegates is far from certain, according to one local lawmaker. "It's not a lead-pipe cinch that we can get it through the House," Del. John Doyle, D-Jefferson, said after Senate Bill 718 was ordered to the House and introduced. Adopted on the Senate floor on a 33-1 vote, SB 718 would increase the local share of table games revenue to 5 percent for the four West Virginia counties that have racetracks.

MARTINSBURG, W.Va. -- Legislation that could make table games at Charles Town Races & Slots more attractive to Jefferson County voters has new life. The bill was one of 11 that West Virginia Gov. Joe Manchin included Friday on an agenda he issued for a special session of the legislature expected to begin next week after lawmakers finish work on the budget. A vote on the coming year's budget is expected Sunday, according to state Sen. John Unger, D-Berkeley/Jefferson, one of 12 lawmakers appointed to hammer out final details of the spending plan.