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Nancy Bulla, State Lottery Commission, speaks to Rotary about Lottery facts and issues. |
 Photo by Jody Murphy West Virginia Lottery spokeswoman Nancy Bulla address the Parkersburg Rotary Club Monday at the Blennerhassett Hotel. Bulla said Wood County is the state’s third largest lottery revenue-producing county. Wood County brought in $42 million in revenue. |
PARKERSBURG — Calling the racetracks a cash cow, a spokesman for the West Virginia
Lottery said the vast majority of revenue brought in by gaming establishments are
from players outside West Virginia’s borders. | West Virginia Lottery spokeswoman Nancy Bulla addressed the Parkersburg Rotary Club Monday. Bulla said the state’s four racetracks —thanks in part to table games —accounted for 88 percent of the lottery’s total revenue. “The racetracks are a cash cow,” she said. “We brought in $1.6 billion last year. Traditional games are far outshined.” Bulla said most of the state’s lottery revenue is coming from border counties as a result of increased play from out-of-state players. She said 96 percent of the racetracks’ players are coming from out-of-state. “Far and away the out-of-state play is the majority. Way over the majority, for our tracks along the border,” she said. In 1993, the last year before the state began to receive money from racetracks it made $119.6 million. The following year racetracks raised the lottery total to $142 million. Those numbers have progressively grown. Last year the lottery made $1.6 billion. Bulla said Wood County — despite not having a racetrack —is high on the list of providing lottery revenue. “Wood County brought in $42 million. They rank third in the state,” she said. The county’s top 2007 seller was the 7th Street Go Mart, which brought in $330,000. The Go Mart received more than $24,500 in commission and bonus and paid out more than $148,000 in prizes. The county’s second highest lottery retailer is the Gas-n-Goods in Williamstown, which produced $252,548. Since 2002, Wood County’s lottery revenues have doubled. In 2002 the county produced less than $11,000 in revenue. That amount nearly tripled the following year, jumping to almost $27,000. The county’s lottery revenue has risen significantly —an average of $4,000 — every year since. Bulla said since table games were started at two tracks late last year, they have provided more than $5 million in gross receipts, accounting for $1.7 million in privilege tax and another $924,000 to debt reduction. By John Murphy, jmurphy@parkersburgsentinal.com
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