In 1991, there were a couple of hundred video slots at one Northern Panhandle racetrack. Back then, video lottery represented just 1.3 percent of all lottery revenues. This year, the tracks could add more machines, pushing the total in the state to 3,800, and driving video lottery profits even higher. In 1992, the Lottery Commission estimated there were 4,000 gray machines scattered among the state's 2,300 bars and private clubs. More recently, industry insiders guess the number is probably at least 15,000 owned and leased by distributors and as many as 15,000 more owned by bar and other business owners.
Legislators are always eager to get extra money to play with.
But legislative leaders hesitate to expand state-sanctioned gambling or increase the state's reliance on gambling dollars to fund government programs. Craigo and others rattle off a list of reasons to be wary. Gray machines might be tough to actually regulate or tax. The state would have to hire new inspectors and auditors, and write rules for how the regulation would be carried out. Plus, the gambling business isn't necessarily stable.