West Virginia Lottery revenues are down $42 million from the same time last year. Lottery Director John Musgrave says it’s clearly gambling competition from the border states that’s taking the money away.
“We were bringing folks in from across Ohio and Pennsylvania and Maryland to play our games and now they mimic just about everything that we do,” he said. “So we’ve lost a lot of those cross-border sales.”
The state has long depended on lottery revenues and the increase in those revenues but that will likely no longer be the case. Musgrave says next budget year’s estimated revenues won’t change much from the current budget year.
“We’re looking at probably, hopefully doing about the same that we’re going to do this year. We’re hoping we’re going to plateau here before long,” he said.
West Virginia’s casinos have always depended on out-of-state players for growth because the state’s population has either stayed steady or decreased.
“We’ve got a steady population, a more senior population and it’s just hard to grow this product that we’re involved in,” he said.
New casinos will be opening in Ohio (Cincinnati) and Maryland (near Cumberland) within the next four months.