Opinion ID: 1253073
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: The Lottery Commission

Text: This Court is also troubled by the Lottery Commission's expansion of lottery operations to include electronic video lottery at Mountaineer Park. The Lottery Commission cannot act without constitutional and statutory authority. [21] There is no language in article VI, § 36 of our Constitution which would give the Lottery Commission the authority to establish video lottery. As we pointed out earlier in this opinion, the legislature must prescribe adequate standards to guide administrative agencies in the exercise of their power under enabling statutes in order for the delegation of authority to be constitutional. Waterhouse, supra ; Copenhaver, supra ; Quesenberry, supra ; Meisel, supra . This simply means, in the case now before us, that the legislature cannot vest the Lottery Commission with unbridled or uncontrolled authority in connection with the administration of the State Lottery Act. While W.Va.Code, 29-22-9(b)(2) [1990] authorizes the Lottery Commission to promulgate rules and regulations with regard to electronic video lottery systems, this provision is clearly not an adequate standard, with respect to electronic video lottery, for guidance of the Lottery Commission in the exercise of its delegated authority under the State Lottery Act. Moreover, while the State Lottery Act gives the Lottery Commission the authority to [s]elect the type and number of public gaming systems or games, W.Va.Code, 29-22-5(a)(3) [1985], and to implement games utilizing electronic computers and electronic computer terminal devices and systems, W.Va.Code, 29-22-9(c) [1990], we do not believe that the term games as used in these subsections can mean the video gambling devices which are contemplated at Mountaineer Park. This is particularly true in light of the language in both W.Va.Code, 29-22-9(b)(4) [1990], which states that [n]o lottery utilizing a machine may use machines which dispense coins or currency [,] and W.Va.Code, 29-22-9(b)(5) [1990], which states that [s]election of a winner must be predicted totally on chance. In view of these restrictions and the lack of any clear statement in W.Va.Code, 29-22-1, et seq. authorizing video gambling devices, we find that the legislature has not delegated such authority to the Lottery Commission. The legislature in subsequent legislation could, of course, amend this statute to clearly state that video gambling devices are part of the lottery system. To interpret W.Va.Code, 29-22-5(a)(3) [1985] and W.Va.Code, 29-22-9(c) [1990], as giving the Lottery Commission unbridled authority to select and implement any game, including those not contemplated by the Constitution and the legislature, would raise serious constitutional questions regarding the enabling statute. As we recognized in syllabus point 1 of Perilli v. Board of Education, 182 W.Va. 261, 387 S.E.2d 315 (1989): `Wherever an act of the Legislature can be so construed and applied as to avoid a conflict with the Constitution, and give it the force of law, such construction will be adopted by the courts.' Syllabus Point 3, Slack v. Jacob, 8 W.Va. 612 (1875). Thus, this Court must construe both W.Va.Code, 29-22-5(a)(3) [1985] and W.Va.Code, 29-22-9(c) [1990], as allowing the Lottery Commission to select those common state-run lottery games which were included in a lawful delegation of authority by the legislature, and which can be operated in accordance with the exception created under W.Va. Const. art. VI, § 36. Thus, because the legislature has not enacted general laws for the regulation, control, ownership and operation of electronic video lottery, and because the legislature failed to prescribe adequate standards in the State Lottery Act to guide the Lottery Commission in the exercise of the power conferred upon it with respect to electronic video lottery, the Lottery Commission was without authority under the Constitution to establish electronic video lottery. In summary, we conclude that article VI, section 36 of the West Virginia Constitution provides an exception to the prohibition against lotteries to allow the operation of a lottery which is regulated, controlled, owned and operated by the State of West Virginia in the manner provided by general law. Only those lottery operations which are regulated, controlled, owned and operated in the manner provided by general laws enacted by the West Virginia legislature can be properly conducted in accordance with the exception created under article VI, section 36 of our Constitution. [22] We further hold that in order for a delegation of authority by the legislature to an administrative agency to be constitutional, the legislature must prescribe adequate statutory standards to guide the agency in the administration of the statute, and not grant the agency unbridled authority in the exercise of the power conferred upon it. A general delegation of authority by the legislature to the Lottery Commission under W.Va.Code, 29-22-9(b)(2) [1990], authorizing it to promulgate rules with regard to electronic video lottery systems, is clearly not a sufficient statutory standard which would vest the Lottery Commission with power to include electronic gaming devices, such as electronic video lottery, as part of the operations of the state lottery. To hold otherwise would result in an unlawful delegation of legislative power to the Lottery Commission and would violate article VI, § 36 of the West Virginia Constitution.