It was the second straight month that Charles Town's Hollywood Casino brought in more than $9 million in table gambling revenue, accounting for 61 percent of all revenue from the five casinos.

And that may just be the start, according to casino vice president Bill Florence. He said Wednesday that Charles Town is on pace for another record month, and could break $10 million for October.

"It's close," he said. "I like the way the numbers are going."

Jim Toney, Lottery's deputy director for revenue, said Charles Town's success has helped offset financial downturns for the two Northern Panhandle racetrack/casinos -- which have been hit hard by competition from new Pittsburgh-area casinos -- and from the new casino at The Greenbrier, which has underperformed Lottery projections.

Since its July 2 opening, the $80 million Greenbrier casino has brought in $1.48 million on table games and video slots, about 7.5 percent below the Lottery's projection of $1.6 million.

Meanwhile, Florence said Charles Town has exceeded its already high expectations for table games revenue. Table games also launched there in early July.

"We do have the 12 richest counties in the United States in our market area," he said. Charles Town draws players from the Baltimore-Washington metro area.

One issue for the casino has been trying to hire and license enough dealers to keep the facility's nearly 100 gaming tables open at all times.

Currently, the Lottery has issued table games licenses to a total of 872 Charles Town employees, with 41 license applications pending.

Because of high demand, tables generally have minimum bets starting at $25, with some tables going as high as $200 a bet. Florence said that, on some weekdays, minimums on a few tables are dropped to $10 a wager.

To put the figures in perspective:

* Charles Town took in $2.82 million on blackjack alone in September, or nearly as much as the total combined table games revenue of the Mardi Gras Casino in Nitro ($1.75 million) and Wheeling Island casinos ($1.17 million) for the month. The amount also exceeds the total revenue at the second-largest casino in the state, Mountaineer, which took in $2.55 million for the month.

* The eighth-most popular game at Charles Town, four-card poker, produced more revenue ($532,586) than the entire receipts for the month from The Greenbrier ($423,530).

Despite Charles Town's success, overall Lottery revenues for September came in slightly below projections, at $112.88 million.

However, as Commissioner Bill Clayton noted, that amount is still about $2.2 million higher than Lottery revenues for September 2009, suggesting that Lottery play may be improving with the economy.

For the first three months of the 2010-11 budget year, Lottery revenues have totaled $354.3 million, down about $6.7 million from the same point in 2009, however.

To that end, Lottery Director John Musgrave said Wednesday he has asked business researchers at Marshall and West Virginia University to determine the impact of competition from new gaming operations in Pennsylvania and Maryland, with Ohio soon to follow, on West Virginia's casinos.

Musgrave noted that total Lottery revenues peaked at $1.56 billion for the 2006-07 budget year, and have declined with the emergence of competition in neighboring states, as well as the economic downturn.

"We're having a great deal of difficulty determining the impact of each. That's why we're asking for the study," he said.

Also Wednesday, the Lottery Commission:

* Approved the transfer of $899,000 from the Lottery's unclaimed prize fund, to be used as prize money for instant games to be launched next year to mark the Lottery's 25th anniversary.

* Was asked by Musgrave to formally set the dates for the second round of bids for 2011-2021 limited video lottery licenses at its November meeting.

Tentatively, bids for the 1,500 licenses will be accepted starting on Dec. 6, with a bid opening on Feb. 21.

* Learned that the first round of bidding, for 5,000 video lottery licenses, drew a total of 407 bidders seeking a total of 7,416 licenses.

The bidding resulted in all 5,000 available licenses being awarded to winning bidders, at a total amount of $39.26 million, with winning bids ranging from $6,100 to $20,000 per license, and an average bid amount of $7,934 per license.   

Reach Phil Kabler at ph...@wvgazette.com or 304-348-1220.