Racetrack Video Lottery will celebrate 30 years since its passage in 1995. Sponsored by former Del. Tamara Pettit and the late Del. Sam Love, the bill was hard fought in both the House and the Senate. The State Supreme Court had ruled the experiment of Mountaineer Magic video lottery machines at Mountaineer unconstitutional and Pettit and Love were given 30 days from the beginning of the session to pass a constitutional amendment authorizing the machines. The bill passed the House within the required time frame but stalled in the Senate over distribution of the revenue. Pettit and Love would file an Amicus Brief as friends of the Court to extend the period to pass the bill and keep the machines on and Mountaineer employees working.
‘The distribution of the Racetrack Video Lottery revenue called for 2 % of the revenue to go to Hancock County because Mountaineer was the only racetrack located in an unincorporated area,”‘ said Pettit. “The other three racetracks were located within municipalities meaning the revenue went to the municipalities. The rationale at the time the bill was written was that the police protection would fall to the Sheriff’s Office in Hancock County.”
Throughout the years, efforts to amend the distribution in Hancock County were introduced in the Senate, but failed to pass the House. In 2000, after Sen. Ed Bowman’s attempts to return the 2% to the municipalities in Hancock County on a per capita basis failed, an agreement was struck with the County Commission to provide a portion of the revenue to the municipalities after the revenue reached a trigger point.
During the years when racetrack video lottery was at its peak, the municipalities received funds, but as the revenue decreased the trigger point was not met and the cities’ racetrack video lottery funds went away.
In the 2023 session, legislation sponsored by Del. Mark Zatezalo – 2nd District, split the 2 % revenue between the County and the municipalities of Chester and New Cumberland. The City of Weirton was excluded because the legislation required a municipality to be wholly located in Hancock County. Weirton is located partially in Hancock County and partially in Brooke County. Del. Pat McGeehan – 1st District, had sponsored a similar bill which did not move out of committee.
The bill flew under the radar and its passage came as a surprise to the County Commission who found their Racetrack Video Lottery allocation had been cut in half. In order not to cut programs, the Commission turned to its Rainy Day Fund this year, but action will be necessary if their allocation does not return to the 2% level is unclear at this time.
Conversely, the 1 % Racetrack Video Lottery revenue has been a boon to the small communities of Chester and New Cumberland who have been able to get much-needed projects completed. Those communities will surely fight to keep the 1% distribution as they look towards future projects.
Will legislation to return the distribution back to the original 2 % for the County be introduced this session? Will the Municipal League and New Cumberland and Chester be vigilant in opposing any attempts to amend the code as it stands? Will the City of Weirton seek to amend the bill so that they are included in the distribution.
In coming issues we’ll examine what the funds have been used for by both the County and the Cities and what action both plan to take in the upcoming session. And in recognition of the 30th anniversary of the passage of Racetrack Video Lottery, we’ll take a look at how the funds transformed Mountaineer and what projects were made possible in Hancock County.
