As of Tuesday morning, West Virginia Gov. Joe Manchin had not signed a bill passed Thursday by the West Virginia Legislature allowing that state's four racetracks to pursue casino table games such as blackjack and roulette. A spokeswoman at the governor's office said Manchin still was awaiting arrival of the bill from the legislature.

It's a good bet that many eyes and ears in Pennsylvania's legislative and executive branches of government will be focused on the Mountaineer State in the days and weeks ahead. The fate of West Virginia's table games initiative will serve as a bellwether regarding the introduction of such gambling in the Keystone State.

But Pennsylvania should exercise caution, regardless of what West Virginia does.

Manchin hasn't kept his support for the newly passed gambling legislation a secret. Barring technical or legal flaws, he said, he would sign the measure.

That could come in the next week or two, based on the state's timetable for the governor acting upon approved legislation.

That would pave the way for voters in Hancock, Jefferson, Ohio and Kanawha counties — the counties that house the four racetracks — to conduct elections on whether to authorize the games.

Manchin touted how the approved bill shares potential table games tax revenue with every county and local government in the state. He also praised the bill's earmarking of annual, multimillion-dollar licensing fees for in-home senior care.

A potential-benefits message will be delivered to Pennsylvania residents by Gov. Ed Rendell if West Virginia does in fact introduce table games and Pennsylvania opts to pursue expansion of its gambling menu in order to compete with West Virginia for gambling dollars.

And, like Manchin, Rendell will avoid dwelling on the bad aspects of expanded gambling, the most notable of which are that table games provide more ways for people to lose money and to develop gambling problems.

Since Pennsylvania's entry into slots gambling, many people here — both inside and outside of the state government — have expressed the belief that Pennsylvania eventually will become a table-games state. And, while the four West Virginia counties' decisions probably will impact what happens in Pennsylvania in the shorter term, it would come as no surprise if this state at some time in the not-too-distant future approved table games, even if West Virginia voters defeat the current measure.

Casino gambling has gotten its foot in the door in Pennsylvania, and it will work toward opening that door wider.

The talk in West Virginia Tuesday was that voters in the state's northern panhandle — Ohio and Hancock counties, the counties that house Wheeling Island and the Mountaineer Race Track and Gaming Resort, respectively — could be voting as early as June on the gambling expansion.

But there is no guarantee that voters will OK the measure. The West Virginia tracks have pursued table games since 2004, promising to add more and higher-paying jobs in exchange. However, gambling foes and other critics rightly blocked previous efforts, and it would harm neither West Virginia nor Pennsylvania if the opponents prevailed once again.

The previous defeats apparently are at least partly behind West Virginia slots parlor employees currently wearing "Table games mean jobs" buttons as a purported show of support for the expanded-gambling initiative.

But many of those employees likely are not wearing the buttons voluntarily; they are complying with "requests" by their employers to wear them.

What might be going on behind the scenes in Pennsylvania in response to what's happening in West Virginia is unclear, but it's a safe bet that Mountaineer State gambling moves aren't being ignored here.

Rendell and the General Assembly are right in watching, but they should be cautious about how they choose to proceed. Meanwhile, Pennsylvania residents shouldn't be reluctant to express their thoughts about a further expansion of gambing in the commonwealth.

This is an issue on which legislators and the governor should be dealt plenty of guidance.