Vol. 5, No. 5, May 2008
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Anyone’s Guess
Maryland slots campaign already heating up
The Maryland General Assembly wrapped up its 90-day session last month with one question: Will state voters approve a fall referendum to legalize 15,000 slot machines across the state?
“That’s still a big question mark on the horizon here,” O’Malley told reporters during a bill-signing session last week. “We’re more dependent on that than I 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 to support the referendum.
But slots still faces fierce opposition, most of it from within O’Malley’s own Democratic party and state government. Comptroller Peter Franchot, the public face of the anti-slot campaign, has railed against slots as much as the governor has stumped for it. On the other side is For Maryland, For Our Future, a pro-slots group, and the financial might of the gaming industry and its lobbyists.
The pro-slot side is joined by the racing industry, although support has been lukewarm from companies like Magna Entertainment, whose flagship Laurel Park racetrack was excluded from the list of slot locations in O’Malley’s referendum bill. Last month, the Maryland Racing Commission urged O’Malley and slot supporters to include Laurel and Ocean Downs on the list. The tracks are the only ones excluded 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.”
