ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, April 17, 1997 TAG: 9704170072
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-4 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: FAIRFAX
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
Coleman Andrews headed WorldGames, which offered technology for betting from home, but he doesn't expect that to hurt him politically.
Republican lieutenant governor candidate Coleman Andrews until recently headed a company that considered promoting horse-race betting by home telephone, according to a report published Wednesday.
As a candidate, however, Andrews has opposed gambling. The millionaire Fairfax County businessman is seeking the nomination for the state's No.2 office in the June 10 GOP primary.
``Coleman Andrews is claiming to be a longtime pro-family activist,'' said Mike Farris, the unsuccessful GOP candidate for the office in 1993. ``This demonstrates that Coleman Andrews is not who he says he is.''
But Walt Barbee, president of the conservative Family Foundation and an Andrews supporter, was more forgiving. ``Some people just don't focus on certain issues until it gets on their particular radar screen,'' Barbee said.
Andrews, 42, was president of WorldGames Inc., a subsidiary of WorldCorp, which holds stakes in an airline and an electronic commerce firm. According to The Washington Post, Andrews sent a letter four years ago to WorldCorp shareholders touting profits he expected from gambling services.
The letter said WorldGames had licensed a patented technology for gaming and wagering and that lottery applications also were being explored.
William Gorog, then chairman of WorldCorp, said pari-mutuel horse track operators had approached the company about using a telephone technology called ScanFone to allow people to bet on races by credit card from home.
But Andrews said Tuesday that after launching WorldGames, he looked into the experience of New Orleans and Atlantic City and concluded that gambling increased rates of crime and personal bankruptcy.
``I told my board of directors I was not prepared to support any effort in pursuing that,'' he told the newspaper.
WorldGames was dissolved March 3, according to the secretary of state's office in Delaware, where the subsidiary was incorporated.
Andrews said he did not expect his involvement in WorldGames to hurt him politically.
``I probably would not have understood the potential negative effects of riverboat gambling if I had not looked into the whole gambling question several years earlier,'' he said. ``I think people will understand and appreciate that.''
Andrews has opposed efforts to bring riverboat gambling to Virginia.
``We whupped the gambling industry in 1995 and we whupped it again in 1996,'' he said in a recent speech. ``They'll be back again. They're kind of like cockroaches. And I'll be standing there with a big ol' can of Raid when they do come back, and we will whip them time and time again.''
LENGTH: Medium: 59 lines KEYWORDS: POLITICS LT. GOVERNORby CNB