The West Virginia Lottery Commission recently approved Rapid Fusion, a hybrid gambling system that allows players to use an electronic touch screen to bet on roulette, mini-baccarat and other live table games at the state’s racetrack casinos. The touch screens will be located next to the actual table games. Rapid Fusion is the first to give players the option of playing from the live table or at an electronic station.
Lottery Director John Musgrave said he hopes Rapid Fusion will help West Virginia’s racinos compete with new gambling competition in Maryland, Pennsylvania and Ohio. “This should make them more attractive,” Musgrave said.
Table-game revenue can use the help, since it declined 36 percent in the first five months of the 2013-14 budget year. Racetrack video lottery also dropped 9 percent, while limited video lottery fell 5.5 percent. In the same period, total lottery revenue dropped $43.98 million to $514.17 million. Year-to-date, the state’s share of lottery profits decreased $220.86 million, down $19.8 million compared with 2012.
