W.Va.: Underage workers can keep jobs

W.Va.: Underage workers can keep jobs

	Published : Fri, 07 Sep 2007 20:17 By : Agencies Print this Story

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) - Workers at the state's three soon-to-be casinos who aren't yet 21 years old won't have to start looking for new jobs if a rule proposed by the Lottery Commission takes effect.

The commission approved a rule change on Friday that allows the underage workers to keep their jobs as long as they don't come within two feet of a gaming table.

The new rule is expressly designed for workers under 21 who were hired before Sept. 15. Any new hires for the gaming areas should be at least 21.

The rule still has to be approved by state Revenue Secretary Rob Alsop and filed with the office of Secretary of State Betty Ireland.

The table games law restricts table games and slot machines at the tracks to people 21 and older. That could have cost underage employees their jobs, since they wouldn't have been allowed in any 'designated gaming area.'

For their sake, the new rule defines 'designated gaming area' as 'within two feet of any gaming table.'

'Basically, the wait staff can't actually come right up to the gaming table with a customer's order,' Lottery Director John Musgrave said.

The two-foot rule prompted speculation as to how it would be monitored and enforced. Commission members wondered whether an employee reaching an arm closer than two feet to a poker table would constitute a violation. What about a toe?

'This is going to be like trying to analyze whether they broke the plane of the goal line on a disputed touchdown,' commission member Michael Adams said. 'You have to use some common sense.'

Commissioners weren't sure how many employees are younger than 21 at the three tracks. Calls to the racetracks weren't immediately returned Friday.

Although voters in Hancock, Ohio and Kanawha counties approved table games, no track offers them yet. The state wants more time to train the regulators who will oversee the games.

On Friday, Musgrave said Mountaineer Racetrack and Gaming Resort in Chester and Wheeling Island Racetrack and Gaming Center still hope to start offering poker sometime in November.

Musgrave said he plans to meet with officials from Tri-State Racetrack and Gaming in Nitro sometime in the next two weeks to discuss when that facility might begin offering table games.