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Late last year, Jacobs Entertainment, a gaming and entertainment company based in Golden, Colorado, disclosed a 13% share stake in MTR Gaming Group, giving it an equal share with MTR Chairman and CEO Ted Arneault.Jacobs Entertainment is co-owned by Jeffrey Jacobs and his father, Richard Jacobs, the former owner of the Cleveland Indians. The Indians' home field bears his name. Jacobs sold the team in 2000 for what was then a record amount for a Major League team -- more than $300 million.(The Jacobs family of Buffalo, New York, which controls the Wheeling racetrack, is not related to the Jacobs Entertainment family.)Jacobs Entertainment Inc. spent several million dollars last year in support of Ohio's Issue 3, which would have changed the state Constitution to allow up to 31,500 slot machines at Ohio's seven racetracks and two riverside sites in downtown Cleveland. Long before the vote, polls showed the initiative going down hard, and Ohio voters eventually defeated the issue by a nearly 60-40 margin.The Jacobses apparently concluded that West Virginia, with a compliant Legislature unfazed by arguments that a Constitutional amendment is needed, is a greener pasture to bring about the expansion of their gambling organization.Jacobs Entertainment also disclosed in a Nov. 6 Securities and Exchange Commission filing that it had asked MTR on Oct. 25 to name Ian Stewart, Jacobs’ president of pari-mutuel wagering and video operations, to the MTR board, according to the SEC filing,In another development, MTR just last week announced that its subsidiary, Speakeasy Gaming of Las Vegas, Inc., has entered into a definitive agreement with Mandekic Companies, LLC to sell its Speedway Casino in North Las Vegas, NV for $18,175,000 in cash. The transaction is subject to customary conditions, including the approval of the Nevada Gaming Commission and the City of North Las Vegas. Jacobs Entertainment is the owner and operator of the Lodge Casino at Black Hawk and the Gilpin Hotel Casino both located in Black Hawk, Colorado; The Gold Dust West Casino in Reno, Nevada; The Pinon Plaza Hotel Casino in Carson City, Nevada (the casino properties); Colonial Downs Racetrack in Virginia and nine related off-track wagering facilities located in Virginia; and 11 truck plaza video gaming facilities located in Louisiana with a share in the gaming revenues of an additional truck plaza located in Louisiana.MTR Gaming Group Inc., through subsidiaries, owns and operates the Mountaineer Race Track & Gaming Resort in Chester, West Virginia; Scioto Downs in Columbus, Ohio; the Ramada Inn and Speedway Casino in North Las Vegas, Nevada; Binion's Gambling Hall & Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada, and holds licenses to build Presque Isle Downs, a thoroughbred racetrack with pari-mutuel wagering and slot machine gaming in Erie, Pennsylvania. The company also owns a 90% interest in Jackson Trotting Association, LLC, which operates Jackson Harness Raceway in Jackson, Michigan. Additionally, MTR owns a 50% interest in the North Metro Harness Initiative, LLC, which has a license to construct and operate a harness racetrack 30 miles north of downtown Minneapolis.Few people, including mayors and other local officials -- in their glee over untold riches promised them by the gambling lobbyists -- have seemed to notice that the big payoff on gambling won't come unless all four counties OK referendums.Jefferson County in particular is crucial to making sure the money adds up the way the pro-gambling forces have promised, because it would account for nearly half of total gambling revenue. And many believe Jefferson is where a gambling referendum has the least chance of voter approval.The Eastern Panhandle's Del. Craig Blair gets it, and points out that the "purse" promised to all the cities and counties around the state will be drastically reduced if only one or two counties pass a table games bill. If that happens, municipalities and counties will be facing the unpleasant fact that a couple of "racinos" will be making out like bandits while local governments get relative pennies in return.As Blair put it, when people figure it out, this bill will be like a dose of ipecac.Gov. Joe Manchin was the big speaker at the recent pro-life rally, and while that was probably a thrill it would have been more interesting had he explained why he campaigned last year for an entire Democrat ticket without regard to a candidate's stance on abortion, while aggressively working to defeat pro-life Republicans......House Speaker Rick Thompson is beginning to rush through bills now, worried that with all the focus on gambling and state employee pay, it will look like nothing else is getting accomplished. Is that really so bad? How many more laws do we really need, anyway? If there was a moratorium on passing any new laws for a few years, it really wouldn't matter, except to save the state thousands of dollars to print new laws and thousands of man hours for law enforcement officials to enforce them......Naturally, Al Gore's pseudo-scientific "An Inconvenient Truth" won the Oscar Sunday night for Best Documentary. That's ok. Let Al have Hollywood and that crowd, we'll settle for the White House. I will give Gore credit for keeping his acceptance speech mercifully short. As for me, I'm a fan of global warming, and I think we need more of it.