A bill awaiting the signature of Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin would allow employees at The Greenbrier to gamble.
The measure was passed by state lawmakers on the next to last day of the 60-day regular session.
Greenbrier owner Jim Justice says he was not an advocate of the bill but he understands why it was promoted and supported by some of the resort’s workers.
“Maybe they were with a group or entertaining a group or they had friends or families with them—they just felt like they were being cut out of the picture,” Justice said.
The bill strikes the language in the original Greenbrier gambling law that said “no employee of the historic resort hotel” can wager. The bill passed earlier this month does say that no licensed gambling worker at the Greenbrier can play table games.
Justice says he has no problem with the bill.
“They would like to have the right to be able to come and have fun and be with their friends and family if they were staying here at the Greenbrier,” Justice said.
The bill is on the governor’s desk along with dozens of others passed during the final few days of the session.