http://www.dailymail.com/news/Opinion/200407192/

Editorials:
Too dependent on gambling

Now is the time for West Virginia to deal with its own addiction
Monday July 19, 2004

West Virginia was founded at the height of the Civil War. State officials soon decided to ban gambling altogether, in the hope of making society better.

More than 100 years later, the idea of encouraging people to seek a more industrious way of life seemed quaint, and state officials decided to loosen up a little.

West Virginians told themselves there was nothing wrong with a few bingo games and raffles for charity.

In 1984, voters approved a lottery amendment to allow a few scratch-off games. By law, the money was supposed to be split equally among education, senior service programs and tourism.

Soon this amendment was interpreted to mean keno, and later, slot machines at the racetracks. Now 6,000 video slot machines are legally licensed to mini-casinos and bars throughout the state.

The money was also used to finance the Promise scholarship program and a quarter-billion-dollar giveaway to "economic development" projects across the state. Counties now fight in the courts over who gets the jobs from the operation of the Lottery.

But state officials are bracing themselves for the onslaught of 10 times as many video slot machines in neighboring Pennsylvania, siphoning out-of-state visitors away from West Virginia machines.

The Northern Panhandle's two racetrack casinos have a lot to lose. More than half the visitors to the racetrack on Wheeling Island are from Pennsylvania, as are one-third of the visitors to Mountaineer Park.

Lottery revenues -- taxes on gambling -- this past year were $850 million -- or $66 million above the $784 million that was expected.

The state expected its lottery revenue to slide to $700 million next year, when Pennsylvania joins the video slot machine madness, then level off at $643 million a year.

As state officials grapple with the sudden competition with Pennsylvania, the realization dawns that the century-old ban on gambling was not meant simply to protect individual citizens from self-destructive behavior, but to protect government from dependence on "easy money" that could simply go up in smoke.

Now the state finds itself dependent upon lottery revenues. Rather than fight to keep state spending reasonable and use gambling revenue to reduce debt -- state officials went on a spending spree .

Politicians then bragged about not raising taxes.

West Virginia must deal with its addiction. It must begin the long, painful withdrawal from a revenue stream that is at best, non-productive, and in reality, is destructive -- to individuals and to the state.