I'm a West Virginian who has lived in Las Vegas, Nevada, for 37 years. Even though I have nothing against the gaming industry as an entertainment medium, I do not want to see it spread to states like West Virginia.

As gambling produces nothing, it can be harmful to the economy -- at least in the way it is being proposed there. I believe it should be confined to resorts like Las Vegas, where it is highly regulated and provides a vacation for people, not a way of life. That said, I'd still suggest to the West Virginia Legislature that it at least consider full-blown resort casinos in the state and forget the penny-ante poker machine policy. The poker machines will not provide jobs, except for a few service people. It will make the machine owners richer and the citizens poorer. On the other hand, resort casinos would provide really good paying jobs for thousands of people. They would attract millions of tourists, who would spend billions in West Virginia. That would provide way more tax revenue than poker machines, or the lottery, and would capture millions of tax dollars that are being lost to illegal gambling.

Buzz Floyd

Las Vegas, NV