The Steelworkers' local represents about 189 tellers, housekeepers, floor attendants, dog handlers and maintenance workers at Tri-State Racetrack.

Although the bonus is in the union contract, it would be paid to all of Tri-State's employees, said Dan Adkins, vice president of Michigan-based Hartman & Tyner, the corporate parent of Tri-State.

Moore, the union official, said that during last year's contract negotiations, "we were wanting monies guaranteed. We got some things and didn't get some things. As it came in their (the race track's) last, best and final offer, they committed to us that if table games are established there, they would give each employee $500. That's not $500 to vote ‘yes' or ‘no.' It is in the event (table games) are established."

Asked whose idea it was to offer a $500 bonus, Moore said, "Negotiations are what they are. A lot of times things go on paper that are fashioned as a joint venture between the parties. I can't speak to that one way or another as an absolute. But it was something that was in the last offer that the bargaining unit voted on."

The state legislation authorizing the special election stipulates that current employees will get first crack at new jobs, Moore said.

"The union worked extensively with the legislative process to try to enable us to come to a vote," he said. "One of our concerns was, how does it benefit us -- my people here, who have been loyal employees here -- if you give these jobs to people who come in from out of state with experience? So we worked out language that gives people with tenure the first crack at any of the new jobs."

Moore said there's also talk of offering employees a shuttle because Election Day also is the day of the Belmont Stakes, which is the last race in the Triple Crown. "It's a very busy day for the track," he said. "They don't have the ability to just shut the track down to allow our members to vote."

He said one suggestion was that employees vote early. And someone suggested a shuttle service to the polls from the track, which is near Nitro.

Adkins, the Hartman & Tyner executive, said a shuttle sounds like a good idea. "Of course we would do that -- anybody would do that," he said.

The Rev. Dennis Sparks, executive director of the West Virginia Council of Churches -- which opposes the addition of table games at the state's four racetracks on moral grounds -- said he is not surprised by the incentives.

Sparks said, "They shuttled employees all the way from the northern panhandle to the Capitol (during the industry's campaign for legislative approval). That's their strategy."

The bill authorizing the vote also was filled with "gimmes" for county governments "so government employees will get out and vote," Sparks said. "They'll say, ‘You've got to vote. We've got to have the tax revenue.'

"Obviously they've got to turn out their voters," Sparks said. "We know we can turn out our voters in Kanawha County. The West Virginia Values Coalition is going to help us. This isn't going to be won by the West Virginia Council of Churches vs. the gambling industry. It's going to be won by pastors and other organizations and counselors who are out there dealing with compulsive gamblers and people in the pews talking about why this is problematic."

Sparks said voters will start hearing more from pastors and other table games opponents in upcoming weeks as the campaign rolls on.

"There are plenty of reasons to vote the other way," Sparks said. "No one has disputed the Cal Kent study and other national studies that say for every dollar that is taken in on gambling, the state loses $1.70 to take care of compulsive gamblers, to take care of the economic depredations no one wants to face in West Virginia and Kanawha County. We're saying they've got to think about answering those kinds of studies."

Moore said that in his opinion, the table games vote isn't a gambling issue. "Yes, that facility is a gaming facility," he said. But "this is just an expansion of the service that will be offered there. That's the way I see it. Kanawha County is looking at upwards of 700 additional jobs there, not counting the money that will be generated in the construction phase over 16 to 18 months if it goes through."

The Legislature approved a bill in March that gives citizens in the four counties with racetracks and casinos the option to legalize table games such as poker, blackjack and roulette. A special election on the table games issue will be held June 9 in all four of those counties -- Kanawha, Ohio, Jefferson and Hancock.

In Kanawha County, the Tri-State Racetrack and Gaming Center is paying all election costs, which are estimated to be about $300,000.

Contact writer George Hohmann at 348-4836.