The Allure of Table Games

While continuing to stress "that the numbers are preliminary," the Lottery Commission also continues to boast that casino table games have yielded soaring revenues at West Virginia's two Northern Panhandle tracks.

So reports The Charleston Gazette. Lottery officials believe that "actual gross receipts for table games at Mountaineer Racetrack and Casino and Wheeling Island Racetrack and Casino are twice as high as expected," the article said.

The rosy figures have some lawmakers estimating that the annual loses for Charles Town Races, which was denied table games by Jefferson County voters, is $50 million instead of $25 million, the Gazette reports.

The state's fourth track, in Kanawha County, was approved for table games after a special election marred by botched vote counts. The Associated Press reports that the Secretary of State has finished auditing that balloting.

"The audit found that while the county didn't break any laws, stricter procedures could have made August's special election go more smoothly," AP reports.

Those include mandatory poll worker training, the use of counting boards, and additional notices of precinct changes.