Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, January 21, 1995 TAG: 9501230068
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Medium
"The point is this," Norfolk Del. Jerrauld Jones said, "I'm not seeking to put floating casinos in the Roanoke Valley and Western Virginia, but if it is to occur in this state, there is no reason that region of the state shouldn't share in the benefits."
At stake is part of the state's take - $80 million a year, according to riverboat gambling advocates - from taxes on seven riverboat casinos proposed for Hampton Roads and Richmond.
Jones said the bill he plans to introduce may direct one-quarter of the riverboat revenue to the western half of the state, including the Roanoke Valley and the coalfields. The measure - which failed last year - would put the issue to voters in a statewide referendum this November.
"The point of all of this is to help Hampton Roads, obviously because of the needs here," he said. "If in the process we can help other parts of the state - and gain political support thereby - then I will do what I can do."
Western Virginia lawmakers have shown no particular inclination to hurry legalized casino gambling's introduction into Virginia, even if it is isolated in the eastern part of the state.
But Dave "Mudcat" Saunders, a Roanoke developer and advocate of "mountain tourism," spent most of the week in Richmond trying to prod them along.
"For us to sit in Southwest Virginia with our thumbs in our ears and not capitalize on these tremendous revenue resources would be nuts," he said.
Recent polls suggest that Saunders is in the minority among Virginia voters, although new evidence surfaced Friday suggesting the issue can still beat the odds.
A poll commissioned by the casino lobby shows 48 percent of the state's likely voters would oppose riverboat gambling in a referendum, while only 40 percent would vote for it.
But when floating casinos were equated with 24,000 new jobs, $123 million in annual tax revenue, better schools and more cops - the battle cry of riverboat advocates - opinion shifted to 52 percent support, according to the poll released Friday.
"There are plenty of votes available," said Alan Secrest, a Democratic pollster who conducted the statewide poll with Republican pollster Tony Fabrizio. "This issue is still very, very competitive."
The survey, financed by the Virginia Riverboat Council, highlighted figures showing that 92 percent of 909 voters polled want riverboat gambling's fate decided by statewide referendum, not in the legislature.
Riverboat opponents shrugged at the results. "I just distrust polls paid for by advocates of the particular issue, particularly one as sleazy, parasitic and predatory as casino gambling has proved itself to be across the nation," said William W. Kincaid of the lobbying group Virginians Deserve Better Inc.
Del. Riley Ingram, R-Hopewell, backed the idea of a referendum, but questioned the credibility of the pollster, Cooper and Secrest Associates. "They can word the question in such a way to make you believe almost anything they want you to believe," he said.
Ingram asserted that Cooper and Secrest falsely represented him in polling done during his re-election two years ago.
Secrest's poll also showed that if the casinos produced $10 million a year for economic development in Southwest Virginia, 52 percent would favor them.
by CNB