Published: July 18, 2008 01:53 am            

Track executive: Critics should check out changes

MORGANTOWN — A transformation has begun at Tri-State Racetrack & Gaming Center, and rather than complain about delays in the long-awaited debut of table games, critics of the casino should “get off their duffs” and check it out, an executive of the parent company said Thursday.

Dan Adkins, vice president of Michigan-based Hartman & Tyner, pointed to a $3 million surveillance system overhaul, the construction of two poker areas and the relocation of the simulcasting room.

“If anyone would get off their duffs and go take a look, they’d see things were moving forward,” he told The Associated Press in a telephone interview.

Adkins spoke to the AP after several officials, including Gov. Joe Manchin, complained this week that the Nitro track should explain to the public why it’s taking so long to launch the table games it fought so hard for.

“The governor is hopeful that things were moving forward,” Manchin spokeswoman Lara Ramsburg said when informed of Adkins’ remarks. “He just wants people to be kept informed as the process moves forward. ... We hope things are going well. If they’re not, please let us know.”

Voters in Kanawha County approved the games last summer after a divisive campaign, but Tri-State has yet to launch poker, blackjack, craps or roulette. Nor has the track broken ground on a promised $250 million expansion or begun creating the promised 1,000 jobs.

Four West Virginia counties voted last summer to allow table games at what had been slots-only casinos. The measures passed in Hancock, Ohio and Kanawha counties but failed in Jefferson.

Both Mountaineer Casino, Racetrack & Resort in Chester and Wheeling Island Hotel-Casino-Racetrack immediately began hiring and training employees, creating jobs and launching the games last fall.

Adkins bristled at what he sees as unfair criticism of Tri-State, noting Kanawha County’s election was the last of four, delayed until August by the county’s failure to properly notify the public within the required amount of time.

Adkins says that cost his company an additional $2 million for the campaign. The company has also donated $1 million to senior services, he said.

“People forget we’re not a public entity. We’re a private entity, and the money is coming out of our parent company,” he said. “We’re doing what we said we would do.”

Tri-State wrote a $1.5 million check for its table game license July 1.

“So now we have a license and now we can order equipment,” he said. “It’s kind of hard to open a casino if you don’t have equipment.”

Tri-State also has built a new money room and vault, and trained more than 100 dealers, Adkins said.

Online advertising shows it’s also looking to fill other positions: The Web site careerbuilder.com shows Tri-State is searching for two money room operators, a surveillance operator, an accounting assistant and a marketing director.

“You can’t just throw a light switch and start running a casino,” Adkins said.

Nor will Tri-State launch table games before he believes they’re up to customers’ expectations.

If work continues on schedule, Tri-State could open 40 poker tables in the second week of August and will begin offering public tournaments, Adkins said. He’s hopeful the more complicated games could follow in about two weeks.

        

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