CHARLESTON, W.Va. — The number of video lottery machines allowed at some existing retail locations in West Virginia would go from 5 to 7 in a bill passed by the House Finance Committee and sent to the House floor Tuesday.
The bill, which was originated by the committee, would put the permits for the additional terminals up for bid later this year. The permits would expire in 2021.
West Virginia Lottery Managing General Counsel Danielle Boyd told the committee video lottery operators want an opportunity to place more machines in their better performing locations.
“We don’t anticipate seeing them increase the number of machines in a low-performing location–this would simply allow the best locations to have seven and also let some of the operators that have about a thousand machines in warehouses right now to put some of the machines in their best locations,” Boyd said.
The change is expected to bring additional money to the state. It’s estimated the bidding process could bring in $5 million with an additional $1 million coming from the annual $1,000 terminal permit fee. The revenue gained from those playing the additional machines could bring in even more, Boyd said.
“Probably 10 to 12 million (dollars) in revenue from these machines in the high-performing locations,” she said.
Boyd said there has been a trend in recent years for operators to remove machines from low-performing locations.
“Each May there is an annual permit fee and so the longer a machine, for instance, would sit in an operator’s warehouse they may not continue to pay that thousand dollar per machine fee each May. We saw 253 last year and we’ve been told without this measure we could see more,” Boyd said.
The bill would require the state Lottery Commission to advertise and conduct public hearings in the communities where additional permits are issued. The bill would also amend state law to require the lottery commission, in future open bidding, to go through a process of reducing the number of actual locations of video lottery terminals from the current level of approximately 1,300 locations down to 1,250 locations.
The bill originated Tuesday is similar to Senate Bill 281 which is currently in the possession of the Senate Finance Committee.