Stop Slots Daily

Even pro-slots advocate and House Appropriations Committee Chairman Norman Conway is admitting that slots aren't the solution to Maryland's budget woes. Conway:

Never have I said the referendum on slots could be the answer to the state's budget problem.

Well, take that argument off the table for the pro-slots crowd.

Marc Fisher asks an important question about what's missing from the slots ballot language:

What's missing from that synopsis? Well, how about the fact that the state's own analysis of the impact of slots gambling in Maryland determined that private casino operators would pocket a stunning $450 million in profits each year, while the state's schools would collect $660 million annually. If voters knew that, would they make the same decision as those who merely read the very limited statement that the ballot puts before them--a statement that says only that the "purpose" of slots is to raise money "for education of children"? How comfortable are Maryland voters with being party to a gambling scheme that from the get-go skims about 40 percent of the profits for the benefit of a handful of casino operators? Obviously not too comfortable, or else the state would have put the question to the people forthrightly.

That's right, $450 million according to the state's own overly rosy numbers. That's money that will be sucked out of Maryland and into the pockets of wealthy, out-of-state gambling moguls.

Fisher concludes:

McDonough argues that the wording is indeed straightforward, and that the ballot presents the issue without arguing for or against the change. But Aaron Meisner, head of one of the main anti-slots campaign in the state, calls the wording "outrageous" and says it shows what happens when you put a gambling lobbyist in the secretary of state's job...

But voters should take this chapter of the slots fight as evidence of the state government's moral unease with its own sordid actions--if Maryland's governor and politicians were really sure that forcing the poor and gambling addicts to cover the state's budget gap was the right thing to do, rather than turning to all taxpayers to share the burden equally, then they'd have presented voters with an honest accounting of what they're really voting for this fall.

Annapolis politicians have lost their moral compass and it's yet another reason why we can't trust them with slot machine gambling.

John P. McDonough is our Secretary of State. He's a former gambling lobbyist appointed by Martin O'Malley and has the power to write the amendment to enshrine slot machine gambling into our Constitution. The amendment he wrote will appear on the ballot in full. Everyone agrees that it's biased in favor of his former gambling industry bosses. The Baltimore Sun has described the language as "misleading" and recommends that it be rewritten; The Washington Post has said the language "misrepresents" the proposal before Maryland voters; the President of the League of Women Voters of Maryland declared the current wording neither balanced nor complete with the potential to be misleading.

Secretary McDonough has until September 10th to correct this travesty and Marylanders United has written a letter urging him to do so. The open letter reads as follows:

September 4, 2008

Mr. John P. McDonough
Secretary of State
16 Francis Street
Annapolis, MD 21401

Dear Secretary McDonough:

As the September 10, 2008 deadline for certifying the November ballot approaches, I want to formally request, once again while there is still time, that your office re-write Question 2 – Constitutional Amendment, so that it more accurately reflects that a significant portion of the projected slots revenue – nearly $500 million – will go to the gambling industry. I am also writing to check on the status of our August 6, 2008 request for records under the Maryland Public Information Act.

The language you submitted to the State Board of Elections does not fairly, clearly and impartially characterize this important Constitutional amendment. And this determination is one shared by many impartial observers. The Baltimore Sun has described the language as "misleading" and recommends that it be rewritten; The Washington Post has said the language "misrepresents" the proposal before Maryland voters. Even the venerable League of Women Voters has called Question 2 as written into question.

Regardless of one's position on slots, we can all agree that this issue should be decided in a fair, open and honest way. The State Board of Elections has indicated that it does not have the authority to ensure the fairness or accuracy of the election ballot, and that this responsibility falls to you alone. Because of your clear conflict of interest in this matter, it is particularly incumbent upon you to act in a way that is beyond reproach, and that you make every effort to ensure the fairness of the question.

Marylanders United to Stop Slots submitted alternative language to the Board of Elections, and we are submitting it today for your review and consideration (see below). We would strongly encourage you to adopt this alternative language and put this controversy behind us.

Under Maryland law, public agencies have 30 days to respond to a Public Information Act inquiry, and as of yet we have heard nothing from the Secretary of State's office regarding our records request. Given your past work as a gambling lobbyist and lawyer, we seek to learn more about the drafting and decision making process that led to the current biased ballot question wording. For example, were there other drafts that were rejected? Did the agency contemplate a more balanced presentation of the facts to voters, an approach that may have been rejected when you took office? Because of the critical importance of this matter we ask that you respond to our request with all deliberate haste.

When voters are faced with a decision as significant as a constitutional amendment to allow slot machines, the questions of trust and full disclosure become much more important. This is especially true since voters were told last year that in order to solve the State's budget deficit we needed to approve the largest tax increase in history. A year later, we're all paying more in taxes and we still have an enormous deficit, a clear sign that you can't trust Annapolis when it comes to solving our budget problems. The question we are asking now is can voters trust Annapolis to present a fair and honest description of this important potential amendment to our State's constitution.

Again, we would respectfully ask that you re-write the biased ballot language your office has crafted before the September 10 deadline, and we look forward to your prompt response to our Public Information Act request.

Thank you for your attention to this matter.

Sincerely,

Scott Arceneaux
Senior Adviser
Marylanders United to Stop Slots

We also did his work for him and suggested ballot language that would be fair to both sides of the slots debate. It reads:

Proposed Substitute Language for Question 2 Constitutional Amendment
Question 2 - Constitutional Amendment
(Chapter 5, Acts of 2007 Special Session)

Video Lottery Terminals (Slot Machines)
Authorizes the State to issue up to 5 video lottery operation licenses at specified locations in Allegany County, Anne Arundel County, Baltimore City, Cecil County, and Worcester County. This constitutional amendment provides that only one license may be issued in each specified location, limits the total number of video lottery terminals to 15,000, specifies that the proceeds of the video lottery operations be used for public education, the horse racing industry, and lottery operations , with the remainder going to the licensees (operators). The amendment prohibits the expansion of commercial gaming unless approved by referendum of the voters.

(Enacts new Article XIX of the Maryland Constitution)
For the Constitutional Amendment
Against the Constitutional Amendment

Will McDonough do the right thing? Or, will he continue to bow before the very same gambling lobby that used to line his pockets?

The Frederick News-Post opines:

Hard economic times can cause people and governments to make dubious financial decisions such as going further into debt — or legalizing gambling — to help make ends meet today. Better economic times are sure to return, but once it is approved, legalized gambling, along with its many and varied attendant ills, will be here to stay.

Once we enshrine slot machine gambling into the Constitution, it will be very, very difficult to take it back.

The Baltimore Sun reports on lessons from Ohio and Nebraska:

In 2006, Ohio voters rejected a legislature-sponsored referendum to install 31,500 slots at seven horse racing tracks and two other locations. That proposal earmarked about 30 percent of the hundreds of millions in projected annual revenues for state college system scholarships.

"I don't think anything happened directly from the rejection of that particular proposal," said Jean Botomogno, an economist with Ohio's Legislative Service Commission, who emphasized that that was his personal opinion.

Nebraska voters have repeatedly rejected gambling referendums, most recently in 2006. As in Maryland, gambling proponents have argued that casinos in nearby states siphon off tax dollars that could bolster the state treasury and create jobs.

"You'd be hard-pressed to show any impact" such as tax increases or budget cuts, said Ernie P. Goss, an economics professor at Omaha's Creighton University.

No impact for a no vote. But, there will be a big impact on a yes vote - Annapolis will be empowered to continue their reckless habits, there will be an increase in crime and gambling addictions and Marylanders will have to pay high social costs.

Slot machines aren't a short term fix and the long term costs could outweigh any benefit.

Meanwhile, slots opponents such as Comptroller Peter Franchot are urging voters to keep in mind that a "yes" vote on slots is not a short-term solution to the state's fiscal woes and that major spending cuts are coming regardless of the referendum's outcome.

"Even if slots were to pass in November, we will still have a significant budget shortfall," Franchot said, a statement he and slots supporters agree on...

But Bill Eadington, director of the Institute for the Study of Gambling and Commercial Gaming at the University of Nevada, Reno, said the terms of Maryland's slots plan increase the likelihood that it would generate expensive "social costs" and minimize economic benefits. He said that danger is particularly potent in urban areas such as downtown Baltimore, one of the five prospective slots sites.

In the short term, we'll still have budget woes and in the long term, the state will have to pick up the tab to deal with higher crime and gambling addictions. No matter how you look at it, with slots, Marylanders will always lose.

The non-partisan League of Women Voters is speaking out against the unfair, unbalanced slots ballot language. Maryland LWV President, Lu Pierson, writes in today's Baltimore Sun:

The wording of the ballot question relating to the constitutional amendment authorizing video lottery terminals may be misleading to voters ("Slots opponents drafting suit over ballot wording," Aug. 26)...

Our legislators may have intended that the purpose of the slots referendum would be to raise revenue for public education. But legislation they passed clearly states that public education is not the only beneficiary of funds the slots would raise.

To make an informed decision, voters should have balanced and complete information about what their vote will mean.

The wording of this ballot question does not provide such balanced and complete information.

The gambling lobbyists - inside and outside government - refuse to do anything to change the misleading and unfair ballot language. If Annapolis can't even be trusted to write a fair ballot question, why should we trust them with legal slot machines?

This is what a biased slots ballot question looks like:

Authorizes the State to issue up to five video lottery licenses for the purpose of raising revenue for education of children in public schools, pre-kindergarten through grade 12, public school construction and improvements, and construction of capital projects at community colleges and higher education institutions. No more than a total number of 15,000 video lottery terminals may be authorized in the State, and only one license may be issued for each specified location in Anne Arundel, Cecil, Worcester, and Allegany Counties, and Baltimore City. Any additional forms or expansion of commercial gaming in Maryland is prohibited, unless approved by a voter referendum.

This is a much more balanced slots ballot question:

"Authorizes the State to issue up to 5 video lottery operation licenses at specified locations in Allegany County, Anne Arundel County, Baltimore City, Cecil County, and Worcester County. This constitutional amendment provides that only one license may be issued in each specified location, limits the total number of video lottery terminals to 15,000, specifies that the proceeds of the video lottery operations be used for public education, the horse racing industry, and lottery operations, with the remainder going to the licensees (operators). The amendment prohibits the expansion of commercial gaming unless approved by referendum of the voters."

Any questions?

This is awesome:

Supporters and opponents of Maryland slot machines are arguing over the wording of a slots-approval measure on November's ballot. The language goes on and on about education but says nothing about horse racing. Here's how an honest version would read:

This measure authorizes the state to issue up to five video lottery licenses for the purpose of raising revenue for education, bailing out an industry that can't make it on its own and saving Annapolis pols from the hard work of governing.

Nice. Columnist Jay Hancock continues:

Revenue for education is part of the story - the way Plymouth Rock is part of Massachusetts. Big profit chunks will go to slot parlors and rich horse owners. Out-of-state horse owners, many of them.

It's true that schools will get half the loot, giving them at least a temporary boost. But there is nothing preventing Annapolis from eventually cutting other education funding, which would reverse the slots boost.

How much Maryland Lottery money ever got spent on schools? What portion of the tobacco settlement finally went toward anti-smoking campaigns? Revenue earmarks tend to get torn off in the romper room that is Annapolis.

Annapolis has failed us before. And, we can't trust Annapolis to tell us the truth this time either. Hancock continues:

And the money isn't as much as you might think. Slots losers are expected to leave a billion dollars or so at the parlors every year, an enormous amount. (Annapolis projects more, but we're rounding.) But that's before you subtract the cost of expanding Maryland's socially regressive gambling empire.

About $333 million of the spoils will go to slots-parlor operators. Somebody has to pay those pro-slots lobbying bills!

Another $70 million will be added to Maryland's corporate welfare pool. Seventy million is more than twice the size of the Maryland Economic Development Assistance Fund for aiding business.

But rather than creating steelmaking jobs or financing new biotech companies, the slots money will subsidize horse breeders and a few run-down racetracks. A primary beneficiary will be Frank Stronach's Magna Entertainment, owner of Pimlico Race Course and Laurel Park and loser of more than $400 million in the last six years, according to a piece in The Baltimore Sun by Hanah Cho.

That's right, a big chunk of the money won't be going to education, but, the gambling lobbyist that wrote the referendum conveniently left those facts off of the ballot while including the education spin. Back to Hancock:

In other words, the new gambling operation will subsidize the old gambling operation. Someday, in 2030 or so, maybe there'll be a Maryland referendum on legalized prostitution for the purpose of saving Maryland's historic slot machine industry. (And the schools!)

The Maryland Lottery will rake off $20 million a year in administrative costs. Another $5 million will get diverted to rehabilitate the gambling addicts created by 15,000 new slot machines.

Then there are indirect expenses. By 2013 slots will be swiping more than $50 million a year from the Maryland Lottery, budget officials have calculated. Money blown on slots won't be there for mortgages, Christmas presents or restaurants, either.

That'll hurt economic growth and collection of other taxes.

Three years ago, Attorney General Joseph Curran, father-in-law of Gov. Martin O'Malley, who favors slots, issued a report saying Maryland slots would breed "violent crime, more crimes against property, more insurance fraud, more white collar crime, more juvenile crime, more drug- and alcohol-related crime, more domestic violence and child abuse, and more organized crime."

There's a high cost to legalizing slots. The increases in crime and gambling addicts are going to mean more state and local resources being spent to fight the crime, rehabilitate the gambling addicts and help addicts' families. It's estimated that slots will cost $3 for every $1 of revenue they bring in. That's a high price and a bad bet however you spin it.

Maryland is ground zero in the national fight to protect our communities from the dangers of predatory gambling. That's why StopPredatoryGambling.org has chosen the Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center in Prince George's County as the site for this year's Stop Predatory Gambling National Convention.

The conference is scheduled from September 26-27 and you're encouraged to attend. Discounted registration is available until tomorrow, August 27th.

REGISTER FOR THE STOP PREDATORY GAMBLING NATIONAL CONFERENCE!

This conference is an important opportunity to highlight the negative effects of slot machine gambling on communities all across our nation. More gambling addiction, more bankrupt families and higher crime rates are all results of slot machine gambling. The consequences are real. Broken homes, ruined lives and a burden on our state and local governments that have to foot the bill to rehabilitate addicts and assist their family members.

Get the facts about predatory gambling by attending this important conference. And, help us make sure that Marylanders understand the high cost of gambling addiction. Please, join us in Prince George's County on September 26-27.

REGISTER FOR THE STOP PREDATORY GAMBLING NATIONAL CONFERENCE!

Below is an official invitation from Les Bernal, Executive Director of StopPredatoryGambling.org.

Dear Friend,

StopPredatoryGambling.org, a national grassroots citizens movement to stop predatory gambling, will formally kickoff on Fri. Sept 26th - Sat. Sept. 27th at the Gaylord National Resort in National Harbor, MD just outside of Washington, DC. Attached is a conference registration flyer. If you register by Aug. 27th you'll save more than 40%. Here is a link with more details http://www.ncalg.org/2008%20NCALG%20Conference.htm

At issue is not whether people can gamble. It is not about people playing poker on Friday nights with the guys from the neighborhood or buying a square in the Super Bowl office pool. It is the practice of using gambling to prey on human weakness for profit: predatory gambling.

States from coast-to-coast now receive billions of profits from nearly 800,000 electronic gambling machines -one machine for every 395 Americans. Instant scratch-off tickets costing as high as $50 are marketed and sold on practically every street corner across the country.

Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Taylor Branch understands the stakes. He will deliver the conference's keynote address. Branch, author of Parting the Waters, the definitive history of Martin Luther King, Jr. and the civil rights movement, will highlight how predatory gambling violates the core democratic principles of America - equal citizenship, public trust and accountability.

There are two ways to register for the conference: 1) Print out this flyer, fill it out, and then you either can fax it, mail it or scan it into email and send it on to us. If you're staying overnight, make sure you also click the online link to the Gaylord National to make your hotel reservation. The event starts Fri. at 1:30pm. 2) If you wish to register using a credit card, please call David & Helen at 800-664-2680 and you can register by phone.

If you can't attend the conference but support our efforts and would like to contribute financially, you can either send a check to: StopPredatoryGambling.org (it's tax-deductible), 100 Maryland Avenue NE, Room 311, Washington, DC, 20002 or contribute by credit card by calling David & Helen at 800-664-2680.

Hope to see you there.

Les Bernal

A voter makes an important point:

When the state lottery was sold to Marylanders in 1973, the funds were to be used for education. Since that time, lottery funds have supported educational initiatives such as sports stadiums for rich jocks.

Now we have a ballot proposal to legalize slots - one that says that the proceeds will benefit education ("Slots ballot wording is criticized," Aug. 19).

The only educational benefit I believe will come from such a proposal is the continuing education of Maryland voters that elected officials are not to be believed about how they will use money.

They broke your trust when it came to lottery revenues going to education. Given their history of broken promises, can you really trust Annapolis withs lots revenue?