Nelson’s legislation would permit the casinos to open a secondary location, so long as the property is within the larger casino’s host county. Voters would have the final say, as a countywide local referendum would be held should county and casino officials determine a satellite casino plan.
Nelson designed the legislation as a way to revigorate struggling retail shopping centers that have lost many tenants in recent decades. COVID-19 only worsened commercial building occupancy rates in West Virginia.
It’s very similar to a bill that was introduced in the House in 2019 and introduced here last year,” Nelson told his Senate colleagues before the vote yesterday.
He wants to allow the state’s racetrack casinos — Hollywood Casino at Charles Town Races, Mardi Gras Casino and Resort, Mountaineer Casino Racetrack and Resort, and Wheeling Island Hotel Casino Racetrack — to open smaller casinos.
Nelson served in the House of Delegates — interchangeably called the General Assembly — from January 2013 until becoming a state Senator in December 2020.
Satellite casinos, sometimes referred to as “mini-casinos,” have been used in other states to revitalize malls and other vacant buildings, one notable being Pennsylvania. Last year, Nelson’s mini-casino bill stalled after being directed to the Assembly’s Judiciary Committee.
