West Virginia is a state whose residents are not happy with the latest slots news. They are concerned about a new bill just passed called SB550. The bill approved casinos to keep some of the revenue they make from slots to put back into their casinos. The purpose of the money is to help casinos to continue to grow and get better. The world of gambling is highly competitive and to remain viable in the option, casino operators asked for the money. They realize that to compete with neighboring casinos they have to keep on building their casino floors. The state legislators of course are all for this. They want gamblers from neighboring states to come into their location for gambling because they bring more money in with them. This is a sign of how prolific the slots gambling market is right now due to how hard people are fighting for it. This is not sitting well with all voters though. They believe that casinos make huge amount of money and should be responsible for their own remodeling and upgrading. They believe that the money put to build up casinos could be much better spent on public programs or things that would directly benefit the community, rather than just the casinos. This is an issue for gambling companies because they love having the authority to hold off some of their revenue to put directly back into their businesses. But how much does that benefit others?

The reality is that casinos have to remodel themselves periodically to stay competitive with casinos in neighboring states and the online market. They traditionally make plenty of revenue to do so though on their own. If they create budgets the right way, they have plenty of money left to make sure that they are going to be that much more viable to the gambling world they have access to. Public programs may be relying on the money that is put towards the state thanks to tax revenue dollars. People may be relying on the tax breaks they get thanks to the money too. This is an interesting way to remodel casinos and most likely it is going to continue to get a lot of criticism from the voting public.

West Virginia is looking to expand its gambling. It already offers slot machines throughout the state and is benefiting from the vast possibilities for revenue the games offer. Now the state is trying to make a push for bringing table games in. The problem is that bringing them in hasn’t been as seamless as the state hoped. Various counties within the state left the decision of bring in table games to the voting public and they have voiced much opposition to the move.  It was a surprise for most legislators who thought that the voters would be much more supportive of the move. They believed that there would only be a small fraction of the state’s voters who denied the approval.

One victory for the state however was a recent vote that was taken in which residents allowed roulette wheels and craps tables along side slot machines at Charles Town Races and Slots. Voters said that one of the biggest draws for them was the ability to have around 500 more jobs come in, and they say that in this economy that this is really important. It seems that job creation is the most important impetus to allowing expansion of slots and other forms of gambling in general. People are also aware that the amount of money that the slot machines are already bringing in, and they know that there is much more to be made from the table games as well, so they were confident in making the decision that it was the right one for the state. The depressed economy was a major concern for the voting public and a major reason why they decided the way they did. Legislators were hoping for the positive reaction to slots and gambling.

The Jefferson County vote was about double the number of people voting for slots and gambling as voted against them. That means that a good majority of voters will support future efforts to bring gambling to the state. 2010 should be a prime year to watch the developments of gambling in West Virginia. It may be a good model for successfully bringing gambling to a state as a means of revenue generation.

West Virginia’s four racetracks are feeling the recession’s aftermath. Thought the recession is considered to be over, there are still many issues to sort through. For example, the recession is over, but the Las Vegas housing industry is suffering with a huge 67% foreclosure rate. It is going to take time for the housing market to regulate itself and much of it is being hampered even more by the unemployment rate. Consumers are still out of work and the unemployment rate is 10% throughout the country. Without jobs, consumers are falling into defaulting home loans and that adds to the problem of foreclosures. It’s a difficult cycle for people to manage and casinos and racetracks are feeling the crunch too.

Slot machine revenue at West Virginia’s racetracks dropped from $972 million in 2007 to $848 million in 2009. The loss of $124 million is a considerable draw on the state’s revenues. Most experts are attributing the loss to neighboring state Pennsylvania’s approval of bringing gambling machines in to its industry. Now that Pennsylvania is bringing slots into the facilities, West Virginia is bracing itself for an even bigger revenue loss at racetracks. The state’s Wheeling Island Hotel-Casino Racetrack and the Mountaineer Casino will lose the competitive edge they gained back in 2007. Three years ago bringing table gaming was a unique and bold move by legislators. Now the move is expected to be made by states throughout the country.

Managing director of the Innovation Group Paul Girvan estimated that table gambling will generate $864.5 million for the state by 2012. Of that, Girvan stated that $502.8 million is coming from players currently gambling in West Virginia. He said, “I would have been a happy camper if I had invested in West Virginia casinos twenty years ago and got out two or three years ago. They have had a good run.” Though the state taxes its table games at 35%, Pennsylvania plans to charge 16% tax on tables and that rate is set to fall in the upcoming two years. It is going to be made much easier for the later state to bring in slots and make considerable revenues off of them. Officials are still trying to figure out how to make money via gambling, and hold on to their state’s market share.

States all over the country are trying to bring slot machine revenue to their markets. The recession hampered many states and caused their budgets to suffer greatly. People stopped spending and that included gambling for the past year and a half. Delaware is a state that knows well the virtues of slot machines and how much money they can bring into an economy. The state has had slot machines running for a good amount of time now and has already benefited from the machines. Now the state wants to expand its slot machine market to bring in more revenue. The state is looking to bring in table games.

The state is looking to follow West Virginia. West Virginia added table games to their market a while ago and proved to be a clear example of what gaming can do. Delaware is looking to mirror their lucrative move and do the same. They want to expand into table gaming and create a more complete gambling market. The good news for the state is that they are already well-versed in how gambling works and how lucrative it is.

Delaware has been using slots revenues for over two years now and the state has worked to legalize and regulate them carefully. They have provided much-needed funding and tax break possibilities that the state would have been lacking had slots not come into the market. Delaware is taking careful notes of what West Virginia did to set up the table games and slots market. West Virginia offers a portion of all proceeds for gambling to the cities and counties that house them. Delaware is looking at possibly following suit and offering a way to reward cities and counties that allow gambling. Most likely money will be used as an incentive for opening the door to gambling throughout the state.

So far West Virginia has provided a great model of what to do and how to implement gambling into a state’s industry and now Delaware is making move to repeat the success. The biggest problem is figuring out how to split up revenues from the money once it starts coming in.