Casino Connection Nevada

Anyone’s Guess

Maryland slots campaign already heating up

by Staff

The Maryland General Assembly wrapped up its 90-day session last month with one question looming: Will state voters approve a fall referendum to legalize 15,000 slot machines across the state?

It’s a question that few in the state—including Governor Martin O’Malley, the main author of the slot initiative—can answer with accuracy.

“What remains, of course, is the referendum on slots in the fall, and that’s still a big question mark on the horizon here,” O’Malley told reporters during a bill-signing session last week. “We’re in a position of being more dependent on that than I think any of us would like.”

O’Malley is depending on slots to help close a $1.5 billion budget deficit. The state’s horsemen are depending on it to revive a failing industry. Educators are depending on slots for an estimated $500 million of new funding annually. The Maryland State Teachers Association, the state’s largest teacher’s union, last month joined the Maryland Association of Counties in voicing public support for the referendum.

However, the question of slots till faces fierce opposition. Ironically, the fiercest of that opposition comes from within O’Malley’s own Democratic party and state government. State Comptroller Peter Franchot has been the public face of the anti-slot campaign in the state, and has railed against legalization as much as the governor has stumped for it.

On the other side, with the governor, is For Maryland, For Our Future, a pro-slots group, as well as the financial might of the gaming industry and its lobbyists.

The pro-slot side also is, of course, joined by the racing industry—although support has been lukewarm from companies such as Magna Entertainment, whose flagship Laurel Park racetrack was excluded from the list of slot locations in O’Malley’s referendum bill. Last week, the Maryland Racing Commission urged O’Malley and slot supporters to include Laurel and Ocean Downs on the slot list. The two tracks are the only ones that would be excluded from having slots under the governor’s plan.

In any event, the  budget crisis seems likely to push the pro-slot forces over the top. “We have momentum,” said Craig Varoga, a consultant for the pro-slot group, in an interview with the Baltimore Sun.  “The reason everyone is united on this, and the reason we have such broad support in the coalition, is that it’s pretty clear from wherever you sit that the state budget is going to be in a significant crisis if the referendum fails.”