Charles Town to get table games

In a reversal of a referendum conducted two years ago, voters in Jefferson County, W. Va., last weekend voted to allow the Charles Town Races and Slots to add table games to its existing 5,000 slot machines, according to published reports.

Officials estimate it will take at least six months before the new games can open while dealers are hired and trained. Charles Town will likely start with blackjack, craps, and roulette, said John Finamore, a senior vice president of the Thoroughbred track and casino's parent company, Pennsylvania-based Penn National Gaming Inc., in the reports.

Residents in three other West Virginia counties approved table games for their casinos in 2007, the same year a similar referendum was defeated in Jefferson County. Those facilities are Mountaineer Casino, Racetrack and Resort in Chester, plus two greyhound tracks - Wheeling Island Hotel-Casino-Racetrack and Tri-State Racing and Gaming Center in Nitro.