Table Games

* MetroNews' Talkline program hosted a debate over table games pitting racetrack lobbyist Nelson Robinson against the Rev. Okey Harless, a gambling foe (with audio).

* Quoting Lottery Director John Musgrave, The Charleston Gazette reports that "t will be take four to six months before the state Lottery Commission will be ready to regulate table games at the state’s two Northern Panhandle racetracks."

* Lottery has also proposed a grandfather clause to allow about 100 employees of those tracks under age 21 to keep their jobs once they launch table games. As the Gazette reports in a separate article, "the minimum age for people entering the gaming areas will jump from 18 to 21."

* As the special Aug. 11 table games election nears in Kanawha County, Public Broadcasting talks to Delegate Ron Walters, whose district includes areas around the Nitro track that would host the games. With audio.

* Both the Gazette and MetroNews report that the state lottery system "ended the fiscal year with $1.56 billion in sales, a new record... That number includes $972 million put into the video slot machines at the state's four racetracks and $397 million played on the slot machines at Limited Video Lottery locations across the state."