Two bad bits of gambling news this week.

First off, two West Virginia counties went to the polls to decide whether table games could join slot machines at race tracks there. One measure passed, one failed. Naturally, the one that failed is less than two hours from me and the one that passed is five hours from me. I could almost get to Vegas in the time it would take me to drive there.

Two more counties will vote later this year, but both are in the four-hour range by car, which isn’t going to happen. I’m not that hardcore. Atlantic City is just about that far, and I’d rather be in A.C. than the sticks of W.V.

In Delaware, a bill to add sports betting to their racetrack slots parlors is in the legislature, but doesn’t seem likely. The governor said she will veto it, which makes her my least favorite governor in the whole world.

Could you imagine the sports take at Dover Downs on a NASCAR weekend? Penn State-Michigan is the same weekend as the fall visit to Dover. So is South Carolina-LSU. And Central Connecticut State at Western Michigan.

So that last one isn’t so sexy, but you know someone would bet on it. And lots of people would bet on Sunday’s Giants-Redskins game.

The good thing is, just as I suspected, Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley has decided to start thinking about slots. I knew he wouldn’t during the first legislative session since he took office for a number of reasons, but had a feeling it would pop up sooner rather than later. I’m not the biggest fan of slots, but would go there on occasion if it were close by. The closest one in PA won’t open for a while and isn’t as convenient as the possible locations in Maryland.

They’ll find some way to screw it up and piss me off. And I’ll just have to go to Vegas.