West Virginia Lottery Commission Chairman Kenneth Greear, left, and Lottery Director Alan Larrick listen as staff brief the commission by phone from Hollywood Casino in Charles Town. (Photo by Steven Allen Adams)

CHARLESTON — Staff and leaders at the West Virginia Lottery Commission are ready for the first sports bets to be placed Saturday at Hollywood Casino in Charles Town.

The West Virginia Lottery Commission held a meeting Tuesday at its offices in Charleston to approve a working document of internal minimum control standards.

Danielle Boyd, legal counsel for the Lottery, spoke to the commissioners by phone from Charles Town. Lottery and casino staff were making last-minute preparations and testing systems as Hollywood is set to become the first casino in the state to have sports betting on Saturday.

Boyd told the commissioners that internal minimum control standards — which will govern the technical, administrative and accounting procedures — would need to be approved with the understanding that they’ll likely need updated as other casinos come online throughout the fall.

“Our plan was to keep working on this, as we might have to add to it,” Boyd said. “At some point we’ll get a final document and go through the steps like we do now for table games where the casinos will request an individual change as needed or as desired. Right now, we’re working on the universal document that all the casinos will abide by.”

The Legislature passed the West Virginia Lottery Sports Wagering Act on March 3 in anticipation of a U.S. Supreme Court decision legalizing sports betting. That decision came in May, giving West Virginia a head start for implementing sports betting ahead of surrounding states.

The commission released emergency rules for sports betting on July 9 to allow the state’s five casinos to set up sports betting in time for football season. The commission filed rules for a 30-day public comment period which ends Sept. 9.

The Sports Wagering Act empowers the Lottery to “establish and approve minimum internal control standards proposed by licensed operators for administration of sports wagering operations, wagering equipment and systems, or other items used to conduct sports wagering, as well as maintenance of financial records and other required records.”

David Bradley, deputy director of table games, told commissioners that sports betting internal controls would operate similarly to how table games are regulated.

“What we’ve done so far is send this document out to the casinos and asked them for their internal controls,” Bradley said. “We’ve been reviewing all their internal controls to see if they meet the standard we’ve set forth. As we’re getting them up and running, there may be something that we have to type up or something we have to take a second look at.”

West Virginia’s internal minimum control standards were based closely on standards in place in New Jersey and Nevada, which already has decades of experience with sports betting.3

“We didn’t try to recreate the wheel; we tried to take a look at what is out there and what’s been working in the industry,” Bradley said. “We tried to get feedback from a lot of other jurisdictions that are working on their regs and vendors that are in the business.”

Other casinos could be set up for sports betting over the next 30 to 60 days.