Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, February 3, 1992 TAG: 9202030062
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BY SHIRLEY BOLINAGA LANDMARK NEWS SERVICE
DATELINE: PORTSMOUTH LENGTH: Medium
SATELLITE WAGERING PROPOSED
Three years after Virginia voters approved pari-mutuel racing, the sport of kings hasn't cleared the starting gate in the Old Dominion.And it won't, many believe, unless the state permits off-track betting.
Supporters claim a track would boost tourism, create 7,500 jobs, inject millions into a sluggish economy and revive the state's horse industry. But, they insist, a track could not survive without the money from satellite wagering.
But opponents see off-track betting as a scourge that could open the door to more state-sanctioned gambling, perhaps leading to full-fledged casinos with slot machines and roulette wheels.
Legislators have been thrown into the thick of the debate with the introduction by Del. Lewis Parker, D-South Hill, of a bill to permit satellite wagering.
The bill would allow up to six satellite centers around the state - the same urged by a 1990 General Assembly study committee. They would serve food and drink and take bets on races telecast from a Virginia track.
A General Laws subcommittee is expected to consider the bill Wednesday morning, with the full committee taking up the legislation that afternoon.
Satellite wagering is critical, said Jeff Gregson, executive director of the Virginia Racing Coalition, a lobbying group representing the state's horse industry and pushing hard for off-track betting.
"It's the trend in the industry," Gregson said. "You can't succeed in this day and age without it."
Even states with decades of successful racing - such as California and Louisiana - have had to go to some type of satellite wagering, he said.
Competition for leisure dollars is so intense that operators have to expand their base beyond the bettors who go to the track, he said.
Voters statewide approved pari-mutuel betting in 1988. Eight counties subsequently approved local wagering, but none has been able to persuade investors to build a track. Pari-mutuel proponents in several of the counties said they won't get a track unless the state approves satellite wagering.
Parker, though braced for opposition, is "cautiously optimistic" that his bill will pass.
"There are all kinds of safeguards in the bill," he said. Local voters would have to approve a satellite facility, even in areas that have passed a pari-mutuel referendum, he said.
Parker represents part of Mecklenburg County, which, along with neighboring Greensville and Brunswick, has approved local pari-mutuel wagering.
The three counties helped fund a group devoted to wooing a racing facility, but Mecklenburg dropped out, believing it was useless to spend more money until off-track betting is approved, said C.S. O'Toole, county administrator.
"You will never be able to attract a major track without it," he said.
Groups such as Virginians for Integrity in Government, however, fear satellite wagering would lead to more gambling, said the group's president, Harris Swann of Hanover County.
"We feel that it is the next thing to casino gambling because it would be done in restaurants or bars," he said. "And it would in fact lead to other forms of gambling there, or at least to the request for other forms of gambling."
Donald R. Price, executive director of the state racing commission, said the group has not taken a position on the current legislation. When the General Assembly passed simulcasting last year, the commission said it would not submit more legislation this year, he said.
Price believes the state "can at least get into racing" without satellite wagering. But anyone coming into today's racing world, in Virginia or elsewhere, eventually will have to look at satellite wagering as a means of reaching more people, he said.
Keywords:
HORSE RACING