ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, May 25, 1996 TAG: 9605280027
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DAN CASEY STAFF WRITER
NOTE: Strip
A GAMBLING REFERENDUM could be a tough sell in Roanoke, where voters have split in the last two gambling-related ballots they've cast.
Will a town named after an Indian word for "money" throw open its doors to off-track betting bucks?
Will horseplayers race to the Star City with pocketfuls of gambling dollars and their eyes on huge pari-mutuel pools?
The jury is out on those questions right now. But an official at the state's only sanctioned racetrack confirmed Wednesday that the track is looking at Roanoke as a potential location for an off-track betting parlor.
Brett Stansley, vice president of Colonial Downs, says Roanoke is one of a number of sites the track owners are considering.
Colonial Downs representatives, he says, visited here in February at the invitation of "local interests" whom he declined to identify.
Many other localities - especially more populous ones in Northern Virginia, Tidewater and outside Richmond - also are being considered.
But "certainly the population [of Roanoke] and the local interests wanting us in there makes it of interest to us," Stansley says.
One source close to the gambling industry says Mayor David Bowers is aware of Colonial Downs' interest in Roanoke.
"Mr. Bowers says he has no comment about off-track betting," his law office secretary said.
The racetrack, about 20 miles east of Richmond in New Kent County, isn't open yet. It intends to stage its first race in June 1997.
In the meantime, the state has allowed it to establish six off-track betting parlors. The first opened Feb. 17 in Chesapeake, and the second is slated for an August opening in Richmond.
The remaining four sites are undetermined and can't be opened until the racetrack reaches a settlement with horse owners and trainers over how large a percentage of the betting "handle" should go toward beefing up racing purses.
And Colonial Downs can't open off-track betting anywhere without a referendum approved by a locality's voters and the final approval of the Virginia Racing Commission.
In Roanoke, a referendum could be a tough sell. City voters have split in the last two gambling-related ballots they've cast. Both concerned statewide issues in the late 1980s.
In 1987, Roanoke voters rejected the state lottery by a 393-vote margin out of more than 24,000 ballots cast. A 1988 statewide referendum on pari-mutuel betting on horses passed by 150 votes out of 30,238.
Meanwhile, some area clergymen already are vowing to fight any moves toward a local referendum here.
"It's terrible," says the Rev. Clyde Carter of Daleville, pastor to pastors' families in the Church of the Brethren's Virlina District, which includes both North Carolina and Virginia.
Carter says he has seen recent statistics that show crime often follows gambling enterprises. After Atlantic City, N.J., approved casinos more than a decade ago, its crime rate zoomed from the 50th highest in the nation to the No. 1 spot in a three-year period, he says.
"It takes away, it seems, from the poorest part of the people, who could otherwise use that money for healthier food - or church donations, for that matter," Carter said.
Gambling also "brings in the psychology of getting something for nothing," Carter adds. "It seems to enhance compulsive behavior a person may have."
Stansley says off-track betting parlors of the 1990s are different from some other forms of gambling.
But he admits the parlors have gotten a bad name as a result of their initial incarnation years ago in New York state. There, many of them are shabby storefronts sporting a row of betting windows that cater to hard-core gamblers.
"That is the misconception the industry has been fighting since its inception," he says.
At 17,000 square feet, Chesapeake's facility is more like a giant sports-bar complex - with full-service "fine dining," a bar and concession areas that sell ball park-type fare, Stansley says.
It can accommodate up to 650 patrons at a time and is open from 11:30 a.m. to midnight Thursdays.
The Richmond facility will be larger - about 20,000 square feet, Stansley says. It will accommodate about 1,000 patrons at a time.
In Chesapeake, the food and drink areas are wings off a large main hall with more than 200 television sets. The parlor receives about 100 races a day from 10 to 12 different tracks around the country, along with other sporting events.
In some circumstances, racing fans don't even need to leave their seats to place bets. They can do it from small computers mounted at their tables.
The horseplayers are a mix of blue-collar workers, couples, professionals and businessmen, Stansley says. The parlor employs about 100 people, many of whom are part-time workers.
Besides jobs, off-track betting also has brought money into Chesapeake city coffers. Prior to its opening, local government officials were predicting a $400,000 annual windfall from betting, food, liquor and property taxes.
After less then four months of operation, "I'd say the $400,000 number was probably pretty conservative," says Chesapeake Finance Director Joseph Sibley. Stansley estimates the parlor has paid about $200,000 in combined local taxes to the city since opening.
Taxes on bets alone have generated $40,000 in revenues for the city since February, Sibley said.
Jobs and taxes aren't enough to convince the Rev. Vater Colbert, pastor of Maple Street Baptist Church in Northwest Roanoke.
"It takes away the mainstream ideal our nation was built on: hard work," Colbert says. "I believe men should work, that they shouldn't chase waterfalls. ... You're going to sell the souls of thousands and thousands of people for 100 jobs?"
LENGTH: Long : 107 lines KEYWORDS: HORSE RACINGby CNB