Virginia Beach hoteliers push for video poker

VIRGINIA BEACH

Virginia Beach’s innkeepers think they have an answer to the resort city’s winter doldrums: video poker.

Now, they have to convince the City Council and state lawmakers that Virginia’s gambling laws should be eased to allow it.

The hotel-motel association this week urged the City Council to include a request for video poker in the Beach’s annual legislative agenda, which outlines the city’s wish list for each General Assembly session.

Verne Burlage, president of the hotel-motel association, acknowledged it would be a difficult sell, but he said hoteliers believe video poker would draw more tourists and give visitors another activity at the resort.

“I think it’s a big uphill battle,” he said. “Do I think it’s going to happen next summer? No. Do I think we need it? Yes.”

Video poker is played on a computerized console. Players insert money into a machine, press buttons to hold and discard cards, and are rewarded if a hand matches one of the winning combinations selected by the computer.

Caught between the city’s vital tourism interests and the Beach’s more conservative voters, several council members said they were withholding judgment on video poker.

“I’ve got to hear more about it,” Councilman Jim Wood said.

Vice Mayor Louis Jones said the game is foreign to him. “I’ll be honest with you. I don’t even know what it is,” he said.

Mayor Will Sessoms said he would let Councilman John Uhrin, who represents the Oceanfront, take the lead on the issue.

“I’m waiting to hear from John Uhrin, since it’s his district,” Sessoms said.

Uhrin, who is a partner in Burlage’s company, Burlage Management, offered muted support and said the city should consider the association’s request.

“The more things we can offer people to do while on vacation, the better we’re served,” Uhrin said.

Virginia Beach flirted with gambling in the 1990s. Riverboat gambling and a gambling cruise ship failed to win legal approval. A horse track the city pursued was built elsewhere.

The Norfolk City Council briefly revived the riverboat gambling issue last year, when it included the issue among its legislative priorities, but the measure failed to win General Assembly support.

City hoteliers argue video poker is a game of skill, not chance, and is within the state’s gambling restrictions.

“You’ve got to know how to play poker,” said Cary Karageorge, the co-owner of the Hampton Inn on 11th Street, who would like to create a video poker game room in his hotel.

Virginia Beach is unlikely to become the next Atlantic City, but video poker could bring tour buses full of visitors to the Oceanfront, Karageorge said.

A spokeswoman for Beach Commonwealth’s Attorney Harvey Bryant said he would not take a position on the legality of video poker.

“He’s not going to make a blanket statement about the machines,” Macie Pridgen said. “Something could be legal and then the software is changed and it’s illegal. Each operation would have to be evaluated by the police department.”

Bryant last year said Internet sweepstakes machines, which offered computer games resembling slot machines, were a form of illegal gambling. The Beach parlors were shut down and one operator has pleaded guilty to illegal gambling.

Del. Barry Knight, a Republican whose district includes part of the resort area, said the General Assembly views skeptically proposals for gambling legislation.

“We seem to be on the conservative side, but I certainly have an open mind,” he said.

He noted the General Assembly passed legislation this year clarifying that Internet sweepstakes games are illegal.

Deirdre Fernandes, (757) 222-5121, deirdre.fernandes@pilotonline.com

Aaron Applegate, (757) 222-5122, aaron.applegate@pilotonline.com