THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, February 2, 1995 TAG: 9502020428
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ROBERT LITTLE, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Medium: 97 lines
A plan to bring riverboat gambling to Virginia died a quiet death in a state Senate committee Wednesday night, imperiling efforts to let floating casinos ply Hampton Roads.
The Senate General Laws Committee voted not to consider a bill that would have authorized a statewide referendum on riverboat gambling. The move killed the measure because the committee will not meet again before the legislative deadline for approving bills.
Gambling supporters pinned their hopes Wednesday to a similar measure before the House of Delegates that will be considered by Sunday. But Senate General Laws Committee Chairman Madison E. Marye, D-Montgomery, said Wednesday's action means his panel likely will kill the House proposal as well.
``It's d-e-a-d dead,'' said Marye, who opposes riverboat gaming. ``The House bill, I'm sure, will get the same treatment.''
Casino supporters weren't so sure.
Del. Jerrauld C. Jones, D-Norfolk, sponsor of the House version, called Wednesday's vote ``just one more day in the life of this issue in the Assembly.''
``You don't want to read too much into the tea leaves that Del. Jones' bill is dead for the session,'' he said.
Jones predicted that the failure of the Senate version would have little effect on his bill because of a key difference between the two: Jones' lays out a plan for distributing gambling revenue around the state.
``All the polling data shows that acceptance of riverboat gaming increases greatly when people are assured the revenues are earmarked for specific needs,'' Jones said.
But even some supporters were not optimistic about riverboat gambling's future in the legislature.
House Speaker Thomas W. Moss Jr., D-Norfolk, predicted that the committee's action would doom the measure by scaring undecided lawmakers in the House.
``Obviously, it's not going to fare any better,'' said Moss. ``I'm sorry, and I'm disappointed.
``All we asked for - all we ever asked for - was a chance (for the public) to vote on it,'' Moss said.
The General Assembly has tried before to bring riverboat gambling to Virginia. Last year, the proposal was defeated in the House of Delegates.
If approved, the riverboat bill would authorize a statewide referendum on whether floating casinos should be allowed, mostly in Hampton Roads.
Supporters say floating casinos would create thousands of jobs and pump millions in tax revenue into state coffers.
Opponents say the casinos breed crime and take money away from other areas.
Wednesday's vote to disregard the Senate bill was split along party lines: eight Democrats voted yes; seven Republicans voted no.
But Marye acknowledged that the vote came out of deference to the bill's sponsor, Sen. Stanley C. Walker, D-Norfolk, because the committee would have killed the bill 9-6 if given the chance to vote it up or down.
``It's just a polite way of killing it,'' Marye said.
People hoping to reap gambling revenue for local projects were quick to criticize the vote.
``I think it's a crying shame,'' said Dave ``Mudcat'' Saunders, a Roanoke developer who has lobbied for riverboat casinos in hopes of funneling gambling revenue to economic development in Western Virginia.
``I've been coming out here for 10 years trying to get something, and this was our chance to get the economic wheels turning. Now what are we going to do?''
Gambling opponents vowed to continue fighting the proposal in the House.
``I'd prefer a stake through the heart to a dart, but I'm tickled,'' said William W. Kincaid, a lobbyist for Virginians Deserve Better, a group opposing riverboat casinos.
``But we're not finished. The gamblers haven't run out of money, and they're coming at us.''
Wednesday's action came after a crowded hearing on the measure attended by scores of Hampton Roads residents who came to oppose gambling, largely on moral grounds.
About 200 protesters held a Capitol Square rally just before noon, threatening to vote out legislators who approve gambling. Most protesters had left by the time the Senate committee killed the bill.
``Gambling is a sin. It's as easy as that,'' said Carrie Spratley, 61, of Norfolk, who traveled with a group from Garrett's Community Baptist Church.
``My father taught me that if you don't work, you don't eat - that you don't take from other people,'' she said. ``Gambling is just another form of stealing. We don't want anything to do with it.
``If you believe in God, then you believe that Jesus will supply for your needs.'' ILLUSTRATION: Riverboat Gambling Stalls in Senate
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Students from Faith Academy in Norfolk join protests of riverboat
gambling Wednesday outside the State Capitol. Later in the day, a
Senate committee voted not to consider a bill that would have
authorized a statewide referendum on the floating casinos.
KEYWORDS: GENERAL ASSEMBLY RIVERBOAT GAMBLING by CNB