Lottery May Up the Ante on Its Video Machines

Gamblers who play the machines at West Virginia's racetracks can win up to 95 percent of the machine's "contents." The Lottery Commission has been asked to consider more generous winnings, The Charleston Gazette reports.

"IGT Corp., the leading manufacturer of video lottery machines, wants the Lottery to increase that limit to 99.9 percent, which is the standard in most gaming jurisdictions, including Nevada, New Jersey, and - most recently - Pennsylvania," the article said.

Supporting the proposal, Lottery director John Musgrave "said the change would not hurt track or state video lottery revenues, since the tracks would still have a mixture of higher- and lower-payout machines," the Gazette reported. "Overall, the tracks operate at about a 92 percent overall payout, averaged over all machines."