New Poll Shows Slots Referendum Too Close to Call

Annapolis, MD - As widely reported today, a new poll conducted by Zogby International shows that a slim majority of Marylanders oppose Question 2, a measure on the Maryland ballot that would amend the state's Constitution and legalize 15,000 slots machines. Despite being outspent by nearly 10 to 1, anti-slots forces have worked hard at the grassroots level to battle the gambling industry to a virtual dead heat, according to the Zogby poll. The pro-slots campaign committee has raised nearly $5 million, with more than 99% of it coming from gambling and special interests that stand to benefit financially from this bad deal for Maryland taxpayers.

“We've said along that when voters learned the facts about slots, they would become skeptical of the lies being spread by the gambling industry about Question 2,” said Scott Arceneaux, Senior Adviser to Marylanders United to Stop Slots. “This slots plan will cost Maryland taxpayers more than $600 million a year in social costs, provide a half-billion a year giveaway to out-of-state gambling companies and other special interests, and enshrine in Maryland's Constitution the government's right to addict 100,000 of our friends and neighbors to gambling. Voters are seeing through the gambling industry's campaign of distortions, and looking at the indisputable fact that slots are bad for Maryland.”