CHARLESTON — Hopeful of taking wagers in time for football season, the West Virginia Lottery Commission staged an emergency meeting Thursday to set the rules governing sports betting at the state’s five casinos.
“This will enable them to go forward to make sure their systems meet the requirements set forth in our rules, so that’s why we tried to get this done as soon as possible to expedite the process,” state Lottery Commissioner Alan Larrick said.
“The goal, hopefully, would be when football season starts. If not, shortly thereafter.”
The commission voted unanimously in favor of approving the rules, with just a couple of minor changes. They were expected to be filed with the Secretary of State’s office immediately.
The state Legislature approved sports gambling last session in anticipation of the U.S. Supreme Court lifting a ban, which it did a few weeks ago.
Now casinos are preparing in their own right, constructing sports book rooms where betting will take place and where fans can watch games comfortably. Casinos are also developing apps that would be used off-site.
“They can really go forward with their next steps,” Larrick said. “So we’re getting this out to them, and hopefully, we’ll be up and running as soon as possible.”
Some of the rules deal with what casinos can do to get going, even if they’re not quite ready yet with their construction or with all phases of their licensing.
Temporary sports pool facilities would be an area approved by Lottery during construction of a sports pool lounge. There would also be designated windows for sports betting wagers, as well as self-service wagering machines.
“We made an allowance for a temporary facility,” Larrick said. “If, in fact, their sports book is not totally built out yet, they could designate another spot within the casino as a temporary site.”
Self-service kiosks at the casinos are built into the rules and would remain, even as sports book lounges are built out. Shift supervisors would oversee the activities there.
Some licensing could be provided on an interim basis. “That gives us time to vet fully all the parties,” Larrick said.
In those instances, the casinos would submit a request to start immediately while paying the initial license fee of $100,000. The Lottery director would determine whether the requesting operator has a valid casino license, paid the fee and is in compliance in other regards, as well.
Casinos with interim approval would be allowed to start operations for a period of 270 days from the date of the Lottery director’s approval. Any sports pool wagering operation not in compliance after that window would have to stop.
Many of the rules also deal with the integrity monitoring system, essentially the safeguards to make sure all betting is on the up and up.
“If an operator finds that previously reported unusual betting activity rises to the level of suspicious activity, they shall immediately notify all other operators, the Lottery, and all other regulatory agencies or governing authorities as approved by the Lottery,” the rules state.
There are some privacy protections, too, though. The rules state that data received related to unusual or suspicious activity is considered confidential and cannot be revealed except through a court order.
