More progress on WVA poker
 

The Senate Finance Committee passed the table games bill yesterday.

It goes before the full Senate next week. You should click on the link below - the State Journal website is conducting a poll on how good a job the legislature is doing this year.

http://www.statejournal.com/story.cf...;storyid=20734

Re: More progress on WVA poker
 

good news, thanks

Re: More progress on WVA poker
 

Could you give a brief rundown of what this bill does?

Re: More progress on WVA poker
 

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Could you give a brief rundown of what this bill does?

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As I understand it, the full bill would enable those citizens living in WV counties that currently house operating racetracks/slots casinos to vote to expand those facilities to include table games. This is very significant, because statewide support for table games is a much higher hurdle than local county support - a lot of folks feel their jobs are threatened without the table games, especially with slots encroaching from other nearby states (especially PA).

This particular bill (from the senate finance committee) is just nailing down details - a small tax increase on the casinos, and defining the new redistribution of the wealth.

To me, this thing looks like it's being fast-tracked - after years of discussion. PA lit a fire under the WV folks.

This is great!

Re: More progress on WVA poker
 

Now the next question I'm asking is if the tracks will pay for a special election in May or make us wait until a regular election in November. I'm sure there will be news articles about this after (when) it's passed.

Re: More progress on WVA poker
 

How far is Charlestown from DC? I would love to see this happen - I wonder what type of limits would be spread.

Jeff

Re: More progress on WVA poker
 

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How far is Charlestown from DC? I would love to see this happen - I wonder what type of limits would be spread.

Jeff

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Well, there are the normal mapping services on the web, but check out the "locations" button on this silly tavern poker site: http://www.nationalpubpokerleague.com - it allows you to zoom in on the states and see the counties. This is useful because an earlier article mentioned the WV counties involved, cutting and pasting:

Their proposal would allow voters in the four counties that have racetracks — Kanawha, Ohio, Hancock and Jefferson — to decide whether to allow table games. The “local option” bill passed the state Senate last year but died in the House of Delegates when Democratic leaders decided their members did not want to vote on the bill, especially in an election year.

By the way, somebody in the other 2+2 thread said Charleston was only one hour away from DC! And Wheeling is an hour for Pittsburgh folks.

Re: More progress on WVA poker
 

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By the way, somebody in the other 2+2 thread said Charleston was only one hour away from DC! And Wheeling is an hour for Pittsburgh folks.



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Mountaineer is closer to most Pittsburghers ~30-45 minutes. Wheeling is right there behind it. And Salamanca is about 2 hours for the northern population and 3 for the southern.

Three poker rooms within 2 hours.

*DROOL*

Re: More progress on WVA poker
 

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By the way, somebody in the other 2+2 thread said Charleston was only one hour away from DC! And Wheeling is an hour for Pittsburgh folks.


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To avoid confusion, "Charleston", the capital of WV, is about 6 hours from DC. There are slots there (just west of the city, off of I-64), but that is not the casino of interest. The one everyone is interested in is the one in "Charles Town", in the eastern panhandle of WV, just about as far east in WV as you can get, nestled right in between MD and VA.

not proud of it, but my in-laws are from WV,
jb

Re: More progress on WVA poker
 

Charles Town is an easy 1 to 1.5 hour drive from DC. Right now there are only a few hotels in town, BUT there is alot of open space around the area for casino expansion and hotels. (I heard from a casino employee that they will probably add and expansion for table games). I only live 10 minutes from the casino, and if they do this correctly (run the casino) -- this could be a very big thing for the city.