Allow me to paraphrase...

Taken shamelessly (and ridiculously paraphrased) below from the Charleston Gazette are two articles regarding poker and table games at West Virginia's casinos/racetracks.

http://sundaygazettemail.com/section/News/2007101022
Employee hopefuls line up at Tri-State Racetrack job fair
Card-dealer class enrollment picks up at community college
By Rusty Marks
Staff writer

The important parts:

• At a job fair on Wednesday, hosted by Tri-State Racetrack & Gaming Center at the Charleston Civic Center, applications for poker classes were accepted.
• $350 registration fee, for a month-long class to be a poker dealer.
• 80 dealers who will soon be hired at the racetrack.
• In the first few hours, about 1,000 people visited the booths set up by the track.
• By 2 p.m., about 300 people had already signed up.
• Training is no guarantee of employment.
• Classes begin in October/November.
• The track is paying the $350 tuition bill for current track employees. Non-track employees who are hired will have the cost of their tuition refunded by the track after they work one year.
• 80 will be hired toward the end of the year.
• Tri-State track owners plan a $250 million expansion project at the track that includes a hotel, conference center, entertainment complex and casino games like blackjack, poker and roulette. Eventually, the racetrack plans to hire about 1,000 people.

http://sundaygazettemail.com/section/News/2007100927
Two racetracks could be open 24/7 next week
By Phil Kabler
Staff writer

The important parts:

• West Virginia Lottery Commission is expected to vote to approve 24/7 operations at all four racetracks.
• The vote could pave the way for the two Northern Panhandle tracks — Mountaineer Racetrack and Gaming Resort and Wheeling Island Racetrack and Gaming Center — to offer around-the-clock poker and blackjack as early as next week.
• Currently, Tri-State Racetrack and Gaming Center in Nitro closes at 3 a.m. and reopens at 11 a.m. The state’s other three racetracks close at 4 a.m. and reopen at 7 a.m.
• The central computer system that controls the machines requires downtime each night to download and compile data.
• The Lottery Commission is upgrading software that will allow 24-hour operations of the slot machines.
• Even with 24/7 operations, the tracks will still be subject to state liquor laws, which do not allow establishments to “sell, give or dispense” beer, wine or liquor after 3:30 a.m., or after 2:30 a.m. on Sundays.

My BIGGEST complaint about the media coverage of the table gaming/poker issue here in West Virginia is that several articles have been written, each just re-iterating what's been said in the previous ones. No real content...most of it all could be summed up in a sentence or two. All everyone wants to know is WHEN will they be OPEN!!! All the rest is just meaningless fluff. Hell, even the writers should know it is "journalistic crap."

In the midst of it all, "MUM'S" the word on the websites of each of the WV casinos about it all too. The Lottery Commission is tight lipped. So we all continue to wait (albeit impatiently) for an exact date. It'll probably come off like one of those instances of... "wait for it, wait for it...NOW!" Expect pandemonium for a while after the games begin, but that'll be part of the show, folks. Eventually they'll get it down to a science, and any of the 3 tracks which will offer gaming in the state will be a great destination for a lost poker weekend! Man, I am so due for one of those.

Hurry up...the shuffle up and deal!

Regards,

cheer_dad