Lower taxes, fees proposed for racetrack casinos

Lawmakers are being asked to cut taxes and fees for four racetrack casinos in West Virginia to help those sites remain profitable as gambling competition grows.

On Wednesday, a bill was introduced in the state Senate that would reduce the annual licensing fee for table games at each racetrack casino pays the state from $2.5 million to $1 million.

It also calls for a reduction to the existing 35-percent tax on table games in West Virginia, a rate gambling officials claim is higher than surrounding states.

“Those tax rates were set when we had a monopoly, the Legislature gave us a monopoly, on gaming. We had no competition,” said West Virginia Racing Association president John Cavacini.

Cavacini said recent casino openings in Pennsylvania, Ohio and Maryland has changed the landscape by increasing competition to West Virginia’s gambling industry.

For example, at Wheeling Island Hotel Casino Racetrack in Ohio County, officials said they’re expecting to do $8 million in  table games this year compared with $30 million four years ago.

Track officials claimed they will likely lose $1 million, at least, on table games this

Cavacini said the $6 million shortfall that would be created with a reduction to the licensing fee for table games could be made up by taking money from the purse fund, the prize money for the owners of the horses and dogs that race at the tracks.  However, that proposal is expected to face strong opposition.

In addition to Wheeling Island, the other racetrack casino sites in West Virginia are Mountaineer Casino, Racetrack and Resort in Hancock County; Hollywood Casino at Charles Town Races in Jefferson County and Mardi Gras Casino in Kanawha County.

A casino, with limited access, is also operating at The Greenbrier Resort in Greenbrier County. Cavacini claimed this proposed legislation would not apply to that site.