West Virginia is poised to up the ante in the high-stakes, cross-state competition to lure gamblers, as its Legislature prepares a final vote this week on adding table games to its four racetracks.

The Senate approved a measure last week that would enable referendums in the local counties that have tracks, including Mountaineer Racetrack and Gaming Resort in Chester, Hancock County, and Wheeling Island Racetrack and Gaming Center in Wheeling, Ohio County.

If the House of Delegates also passes the bill before the part-time West Virginia lawmakers adjourn for the year Saturday, the tracks that benefited from addition of slot machines in the mid-1990s could add card games, roulette, craps and other table games. Voters in the home counties of the tracks also would have to consent, which analysts in West Virginia consider virtually assured in Hancock and Ohio counties but less certain in Jefferson and Kanawha counties, where the other tracks are located.

House Majority Leader Rick Staton, D-Wyoming County, expects the gambling expansion to pass the Legislature this week, partly as a response to Pennsylvania's legalization of slot machines. West Virginia Gov. Joe Manchin has indicated he will support a bill permitting table games, so long as the local referendum is included.

"There were rumblings about trying to take tracks to table games for several years, that it's a natural progression," Staton said. "I think the situation in Pennsylvania has accelerated that, but at some point we would have been dealing with this anyway."

West Virginia entered the slot machine business a decade ahead of Pennsylvania to bolster its then-struggling racetracks as well as state coffers, which now receive more than $300 million annually from taxes on racetrack slots.

If its tracks become more like Las Vegas and Atlantic City casinos by offering table games, it could have a dual impact on Pennsylvania: diverting from Pittsburgh region slots parlors the local residents attracted to skill games such as blackjack or poker, and applying pressure on Pennsylvania to eventually allow such wagering itself.

Pennsylvania House Democratic Whip Michael Veon of Beaver said West Virginia's preparation to add table games is no surprise, nor is serious discussion by Maryland lawmakers about adopting racetrack slot machines. One of the proponents of legalized gambling in Pennsylvania, Veon doubts any West Virginia expansion would have a significant effect on the projection of $3 billion in overall revenue to be generated in Pennsylvania once 14 gambling sites are operating.

Still, he and the top House Democrat, William DeWeese of Greene County, introduced a bill in January to add table games in Pennsylvania. Veon said they knew it had no chance of consideration in the current legislative session, but they view serious debate on the topic as inevitable after the state's new slot sites are operating.

"It's not a question of if, it's a question of when," Veon said of a vote in Harrisburg on table games.

He said there would have been insufficient votes last year to include table games as part of Pennsylvania's legislation. Certain lawmakers uncomfortable with gambling voted for the bill because it was limited to slots, and because racetrack operators and horse breeders stressed the machines as necessary for them to survive, Veon said.

Geoff Andres, president of the Wheeling Island facility, said having table games would enhance the track's status as a "regional destination," but they would generate nowhere near the revenue that slot machines do. Slots are both more popular with players and less costly to operate, because table games are so much more labor-intensive.

"You have tremendous labor costs to generate less revenue," Andres said, estimating the new games would boost Wheeling Island's pre-tax annual revenue by $20 million to $30 million. Slots revenue there last year was about $190 million, with Pennsylvanians making up more than half of the facility's players.

"It's not huge [as an increase], but it's an extra amenity, something that's unique and special and fun," Andres said of casino-style games. "We might have an opportunity to get people who say, 'Let's not go to Atlantic City or Vegas, we can go to Wheeling. Let's go have a fun night out.' "

In addition to new money, he said the expansion would create 300 to 400 jobs at the track. Those card dealers and other table personnel would make about $30,000 to $35,000 annually in wages and tips, Andres estimated.

The West Virginia expansion is no certainty yet because anti-gambling sentiment remains strong among religious groups, rural lawmakers and others. They plan to push this week for a statewide referendum, a proposal defeated in the Senate, instead of the four county referendums. Gambling opponents believe they'd have a better chance of defeating the expansion statewide.

"We'd have a real good chance statewide to defeat this because a lot of voters don't want it -- our faith people," said the Rev. Dennis Sparks, executive director of the West Virginia Council of Churches.

He said the four racetracks have been effective in lobbying legislators, however, that the expansion is needed for the state's economy, both to provide jobs and avoid revenue decline for the operators and state once Pennsylvania slots start spinning.

"We as a state are becoming more and more addicted and subject to the gambling industry's influence," complained House Delegate John Overington, R-Berkeley County. "I personally think the gambling industry targeted West Virginia [first with slot machines and now table games] as a stepping stone they could then use to sell gambling to Pennsylvania and Maryland."

He said a 50-50 chance remains of blocking the bill this week, though Staton viewed passage as more likely. The majority leader said the biggest debate could come over the tax rate on table game revenues. Originally proposed by the industry at 12 percent, the Senate raised it to 23.5 percent.

Staton said the House may hike the tax still higher and also consider raising the slot machine tax, which takes 57 percent of the track's winnings for state and local government budgets and other designated purposes.