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.