For The State Journal

A special election on the Charles Town Races & Slots proposal to expand its slot machine gambling offerings to include table games comes before Jefferson County voters on Dec. 5.

Early voting on the measure started Nov. 13 at the Jefferson County Courthouse. It runs from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday through Dec. 2, excluding Thanksgiving, said Jefferson County Clerk Jennifer S. Maghan.

CTRS is footing the $80,000 tab to put on the election and chose the date.

In 2007, Jefferson County voters defeated a measure to have table games at the facility by a vote of 5,650 to 4,445.

CTRS has more than 5,000 slot machines, along with live and simulcast horse racing. It has hosted live thoroughbred racing since 1933, and it began offering gaming to visitors in 1997. Operating about 70 miles from Baltimore and Washington, CTRS claims 4 million visitors each year.

In 2007, Delegate John Doyle, D-Jefferson, opposed table games, saying the county could get a “better deal.” A new gambling bill recently passed by the West Virginia Legislature calls for more funds to be distributed to local schools and for new monies to be allocated to municipalities in Jefferson County.

CTRS mounted an extensive ad campaign soon after the 2007 defeat and has gained endorsements for the measure from the Jefferson County Board of Education, commerce groups, horse industry organizations and local government, including Charles Town Mayor Peggy Smith and City Council.

“Anybody that has seen our budget knows we need to pass table games,” Smith said, noting the city gets about $25,000 a week from video lottery proceeds. Its annual operating budget is about $3.7 million, which includes a large sum of video lottery proceeds.

“I’d like to see (CTRS lottery proceeds) be just gravy for us,” Smith said, adding that business and occupation tax revenues from the early 2000s land annexations coupled with a residential building boom have all but dried up, having accounted for about $300,000 per year in operating revenues. Contractors and all subcontractors who are building houses in and around the city were required to have a business license and pay the B&O tax.

“We’re all taking a hit,” Smith said of Jefferson County towns.

If the table games measure passes, Smith said, Charles Town could see a jump in annual gaming proceeds from $1 million to about $1.5 million. Without the money from CTRS, Smith said she doesn’t know “how we would exist.”