State of State/PROMISE Scholarship Funding
by Governor Bob Wise
February 14, 2001

We can fund these investments in our future, and at the same time address an issue that troubles many West Virginia families, by imposing restrictions and regulations on video gambling.

West Virginia is drowning in a sea of video poker machines, better known as gray machines.  Some estimates I have seen tell us that there are, today, twenty to thirty thousand of these machines in operation in our state.

Our convenience stores and gas stations are becoming unlicensed casinos. Children wander past gambling on their way to the candy counter. And, for years, the government of West Virginia has sat idly by and let this happen.

Every attempt to regulate this industry has been stopped, sometimes by people who claim that regulating it would "expand gambling." It would be difficult to devise any way to expand gambling any more than has happened in the past four years. It can't get any worse. This illegal industry grosses as much as a half a billion dollars a year.

The current situation, more than anything else, breeds disrespect for the law. When the state gives a wink and a nod to an industry that is clearly in violation of the laws, it sends a message that we are not serious about the rule of law. If we expect to raise up a generation of West Virginians with the character to build a better society, we must set a better example.

Whatever our personal views on gambling might be, it is crystal clear that the time has come to remove thousands of machines from businesses frequented by children, to stop the development of unlicensed gambling parlors, and to limit the number and location of new gambling machines. Together we can do this. 

The bill I will introduce tomorrow will reduce, restrict and regulate video gambling in West Virginia, and will do so by taking the following steps:

The number of video gambling machines will be limited to 9,000 statewide.

These machines will be prohibited in any part of a business open to young people, and there will be a limit of five machines at any one location.

Operators will have to pass a strict criminal background check and have been state residents for at least two years.

Anyone who operates an illegal gambling machine after January 1, 2002, will forfeit not only that machine, but also any and all legal and illegal machines under his or her control.

My proposal will do something no one has done before--reduce, restrict and regulate the gray machines - and provide a steady new stream of income to finance the PROMISE Scholarship, other education efforts and the infrastructure necessary to build West Virginia.

I appreciate those who say they oppose any expansion of gambling  -- so do I. But every year they stopped any regulation-they only made it possible for even more gambling.

I look forward to working with you. But this must be the legislative session that finally acts to control these machines.

Contact Information
Lisa DeFrank-Cole, Ed.D. ● Executive Director
PROMISE Scholarship Program, Suite 700 ● 1018 Kanawha Boulevard, E. ● Charleston, West Virginia 25301
Telephone: 304.558.4417 ● Toll Free: 1.877.WVPROMISE ● Fax: 304.558.3264 ● E-mail: promise@hepc.wvnet.edu

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