{Cross Lanes, West Virginia}...Mike Stuart, the Chairman of the state Republican Party, says the owners of the Mardi Gras Casino and Resort in Cross Lanes, in Kanawha County, have not kept their promises, and he was the at the State Capitol to announce the start of a petition drive to have table games, like blackjack and roulette, removed from the site. Stuart says, when voters first narrowly approved the addition of table games at Mardi Gras Casino and Resort in 2007, casino operators promised $250 million in investments. Stuart claims they've made $14.8 million worth of investment, adding one hotel, but a promised convention center, larger casino and 12,000 seat arena have not been built. Mardi Gras President Dan Adkins says that does not mean those projects will never happen. Since the table game additions, Adkins says casino revenues have been hurt in big ways by a downturn in the economy and Kanawha County's ban on indoor smoking, but he will defend what has been done, but he adds there is a lot still happening at the site that directly employs more than 800 people, and they're not done yet. It will take more than 6,500 signatures on the petitions now circulating to put the table game additions back on the ballots in Kanawha County for another vote.
