CHARLESTON, W.Va. — By lifting the current restrictions and allowing two additional machines per venue, the state can greatly increase the revenue from video lottery machines, according to the West Virginia Amusement & Limited Video Lottery Association.
“We determined after approximately 350 hours of number crunching that the state could make almost $22 million by adding two additional machines per these locations,” Michael Haid said on a recent edition of “Mike Queen Show.”
The association is requesting the Legislature allow limited video lottery retail locations expand from five to seven total machines and 10 to 12 for fraternal clubs.
The group looked at the revenue numbers from every county at every establishment with at least five machines.
“We extrapolated that data out to seven or 12 machines and then took an attrition percentage that says if you have more machines, then each machine is going to get played less,” Haid said.
A 20 percent attrition rate was used to simulate an increase to seven machines and a 10 percent attrition rate for a 10 to 12 machine increase. Haid said they were well aware that if more machines are added to a location, each one will be used less.
The association said it understands that some may see the proposal as an attempted expansion of gambling, but they believe that the number of sites will go down as a result of limitations on revenue generation.
“Our expenses keep on going up but our revenue’s consistent,” Haid said. “This will help the better locations do even better and the ones that are struggling, this will, quite frankly, push them out.”
He explained that it is rare when an owner of an LVL retail operation has only one, and a boost to their better locations has earned their support for the legislation.
The idea was run by the state Senate in the previous session, but the study had not yet been completed and the potential bill was buried under a host of other legislation.
This year Haid says they will push harder, especially with the outlook for the other sectors of the gambling industry begin to look bleaker.
“There’s another casino getting ready to go online in the Washington Harbor and that’s going to put a huge dent in Charles Town. Track revenues are continuing to drop and LVL has been extremely steady for the past 15 years, and the state can’t live without it. They need this money and we just found another $22 million for them.”
More information on the association’s study can be found at wvalvloa.org.