West Virginia Lottery Director John Musgrave says it’s time for a serious discussion about the future of online gaming in the Mountain State.
“We need to discuss it. It is the way of the future,” Musgrave said.
The state budget has long leaned heavily on gambling revenues. West Virginia had a monopoly with racetrack video lottery and table games but now surrounding states have stepped up and opened their own casinos. The competition has cost West Virginia millions.
Musgrave says gambling is going the way of the internet with e-gaming and e-licensing.
“There are some states that are out in front more than others, New York and California, and some have already moved into this arena,” Musgrave said. “It’s something we need to look at. We’re a little behind right now.”
Musgrave says revenues for existing gambling options could grow by creating apps and debit accounts.
“If you want to buy a Powerball ticket and you can’t get out to get it then you could buy it electronically,” Musgrave said. “You could punch the app and buy your ticket, which means you’d have set up a debit account somewhere with one of the retailers or the Lottery. Then your automatic win would be recorded for you. There’s all types of things we could do like that for the player.”
Musgrave says internet gaming is also a states’ rights issue. He says millions of dollars are leaving West Virginia each year to off-shore type gambling operations.
“We feel West Virginia has a right to restrict what happens in its jurisdiction. So that’s why we would be working with the legislature to identify that,” he said.
Musgrave believes online gaming can be done securely.
“The integrity is everything in this business. We’re regulators first and our role is to protect the public and make sure the play is fair,” he said.