God Against Table Gaming in West Virginia

There is legislation being proposed in Charleston, West Virginia that would allow table gaming at the Tri-State Racing and Gaming Center. Currently in Charleston, horse racing and slot machines are the only legal forms of gambling, but some are trying to change that. These people have been met with some stiff opposition on the other side.

Take for instance John Miller, a Charleston, West Virginia city councilmen. He is outspokenly against legalizing table games in Charleston. According to Miller, he is against table gaming because God would be against it.

Miller recently held a rally of Charleston citizens in which he asked a crowd what they though God would say to table gaming and they responded with a resounding, "No!."

It is interesting because religion is supposed to be separate from government, but here Miller is openly using religion as his reason for his particular stance. While he is not new in this regard, he is more outspoken about it than most politicians.

Miller also has another reason for being against table gaming. He has recently stated that "gambling ruins families." This seems to be a widely held belief amongst many detractors of gaming, but a recent study has found that this is not the case.

In a Harvard study release last month it was found that only about 160 out of every 40,000 people develop problems with gambling. This is a percentage of 0.4%.

It should also be noted that alcohol is more of a determent to society that gambling is. Alcoholism is more widespread than the 0.4% of gambling addictions, and drinking and driving is a serious problem that threatens the lives of people on the road. Gambling, if it does become a problem for an individual, does not threaten the lives of people that had nothing to do with the individual.

Not only is alcohol legal in West Virginia, many forms of alcohol that are banned in other states can be found legally there including the drink Everclear.

Here are some facts about table gaming in West Virginia:

- 1,000 new jobs would be brought into the area if table gaming was made legal in Charleston.

- $250 will be made by construction companies in the area.

- Of 100,000 people to enter a casino, only 400 of them will develop gambling problems, according to the Harvard study.

- State Funds will benefit from the tax money collected on the table games.

- The economy of Charleston, West Virginia will benefit from the influx of tax revenue from gamblers from outside of the city.

- Local businesses would benefit from tourist from different parts of the region coming in for table games as well as slot machines.

Information from the Charelston, West Virginia City Council and the Harvard Gambling Study was used in this article.