July 25, 2001 – A video lottery bill vetoed by Gov. Charles W. Turnbull in May in the face of public outcry and vehement opposition by casino owners is once again on the governor's desk.
The bill, which allows video lottery terminals in the territory, slipped through the Senate near midnight last Thursday, buried amid the 114 sections of a voluminous amendment to the governor's 22-page supplemental appropriations bill.
In May, casino executives on St. Croix flatly said they would halt construction on an expansion of the Divi Carina Bay Casino if the legislation became law.
Sen. Emmett Hansen II, who had sponsored the measure, then did an about-face and asked Turnbull to veto it, reportedly after he was briefed on what approval of the legislation could mean. Now, Hansen is again signed on as a sponsor of the current bill.
According to Sen. Vargrave Richards, the legislation would have "negative social and economic consequences." In a release Wednesday, Richards said that in other jurisdictions video lotteries have led to a downward spiraling of quality of life due to drug infiltration, an increase in crime and lack of cash flow. He said researchers call video lottery the "crack cocaine of gambling."
Richards expressed concern about the "surreptitious" passage of the massive amendment — which he had no chance to address at the time because he was excused from that session. He said he thinks some of his colleagues also oppose the measure but "due to the nature of the 'closed rule' could not cast their vote in any other manner."
Richards wants to see Turnbull veto the video lottery measure again. "It is a bill that should be afforded public scrutiny," he said. "It is clearly a measure that has caused enormous controversy in scores of other jurisdictions, economically and socially."
Richards also said he feels the bill would hurt the potential for hotel and resort investment. "Many potential investors have voiced their lack of desire to further invest in the hotel industry," should the bill pass, he said.
The Casino Control Commission chair, Eileen Petersen, has adamantly opposed the bill. She said in May that because video gaming threatens the casino industry, prospective casino investors were ready to pull back if Turnbull didn't veto the legislation.
Gerald Karcher of Benton Construction, the firm that built the Divi Carina Bay Casino, said in May that the casino owners had stopped plans for an 11,000-square-foot expansion of the gaming area until Turnbull decided the fate of the video lottery bill. "We’ve been asked to shelve all further action until we see where this is going," Karcher told WSTX radio at the time, before Turnbull announced his veto.
The only supporter of Emmett Hansen's initial bill was Sen. David Jones. He scoffed at the idea of Divi halting its expansion, saying that a video lottery would hardly make a dent in the $47.6 million the casino has generated since it opened in March 2000. He noted that four states and
several Canadian provinces accommodate both casinos and a video lottery.
Video lottery terminals throughout the territory would generate about $24 million in annual revenues, with a portion going to the V.I. government, Jones said. "It’s been five years since the Casino Control Act was passed, and to date all we’ve seen is a remodeled hotel with 150 rooms," he said.
The legislation directs the executive director of the V.I. Lottery to "immediately take the neccessary steps and or action, to implement the provisions …"
Turnbull said in May that he vetoed the bill then because it ran counter to the Casino Control Act. "The public outcry that I have received from individuals, the business community and current and potential investors indicates further study is required," he said at the time.
Sen. Lorraine Berry was a vocal opponent of the bill from its outset. Berry, Jones, Hansen II, Petersen and Austin Andrews, lottery director, were unavailable for comment Wednesday evening.
