W.Va. casinos prepare for poker

Poker players began competing for fun at West Virginia's racetrack casinos yesterday, and by Friday could begin gambling for real on Texas hold 'em and other card games.

The Wheeling Island Racetrack & Gaming Center and Mountaineer Race Track and Gaming Resort are both conducting two test days of poker -- during limited hours yesterday and today -- with proceeds going to charitable organizations in the Northern Panhandle.

If the games go well in the eyes of West Virginia Lottery Commission officials, who regulate the state's racetrack casinos, the region's first legalized poker could start later this week.

"This gives employees time to practice," lottery commission spokeswoman Nancy Bulla said of the "soft" opening. "Moreover, for our purpose, it gives the lottery an opportunity to be certain security and operational guidelines, under the rules and regulations, have all the i's dotted and t's crossed."

Earlier this year, the West Virginia Legislature gave the state's four racetracks the right to add table games to their slot machine parlors, if their county's voters approved the action. The racetrack casinos sought the expansion as a way of adding jobs and competing with new slots casinos in Pennsylvania, and local voters agreed in Wheeling Island's Ohio County and Mountaineer's Hancock County.

Blackjack, craps and roulette games were also legalized, but those are more complicated to run and officials believe it will be at least two months before the casinos are ready to provide those.

Meanwhile, hundreds of individuals have attended community college classes in northern West Virginia to learn to become poker dealers and be hired by the two local racetrack casinos.

Poker players yesterday and today could pay $20 at Wheeling Island or $25 at Mountaineer as a charitable donation.

Wheeling Island spokesman Kim Florence said the facility hopes it will be permitted as of 7 a.m. Friday to start offering poker 24 hours a day, with up to 20 tables available in different denominations for Texas hold 'em, a variation called Omaha hold 'em, and seven-card stud.

Mountaineer will have more table games -- as well as slot machines -- than its competitor, with 37 poker tables set up in the former simulcast area of its racetrack grandstand.

Coinciding with the debut of poker, the West Virginia racetrack casinos have been authorized to begin operating 24 hours a day, although slot machines won't be available for round-the-clock play for some weeks because of adjustments required for the machines. Presently, they are closed from 4 to 7 a.m.

Unlike other casino games, poker players compete against one another instead of the "house." The casinos make their money by claiming a 10 percent cut, up to $5, of each hand that's played.

Pittsburgh Post Gazette

News Added: 16 October, 2007

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