Table games, including poker, are coming to at least two of the four West Virginia counties that have casinos, and depending on the results of a recount, a third county might also allow table gambling.
Voters in Ohio and Hancock counties already approved a referendum to allow table games to be added to the casinos and racetracks that already exist there. In both counties, voters approved the table game referendum by nearly a 2-to-1 margin. Voters in Jefferson County rejected the measure, leaving its lone casino, Charles Town Races and Slots, with only slots and dogs.
Mountaineer Racetrack is in Hancock County, and Ohio County has Wheeling Island Racetrack.
This past weekend, voters in Kanawha County passed the table game referendum, but the outcome was so close that a recount is most likely. The referendum passed by 25,544 to 25,511, and the results have not been certified since several hundred votes from a few voting precincts have not yet been tallied and the margin of victory was so small.
The casinos in Jefferson and Kanawha counties - that is, if the measure winds up failing in Kanawha - can request another table game referendum in two years.
