October 29th, 2012 by WCBC Radio
Ivan Lanier, a government liaison for the Lakes Entertainment group which owns the Rocky Gap Lodge and Resort, met with members of the legislative delegation and Allegany County Commissioner Bill Valentine last week to brief the local officials on plans for the local slots operation. Local elected officials were not pleased this past summer when the Lakes group abruptly announced a significantly scaled down version of the slots parlor- a plan that reduced the number of machines, and will occupy all of the existing conference space. The loss of the conference space is a blow to the local economy, as Rocky Gap normally does between 9 to $13 million worth of conferences a year. While the commissioners have been working with the Lakes group and believed there was an agreement to see new conference rooms built on the other side of the lodge as early as next year- Lanier says there is no firm timeline in place…