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Slots Backers, Opponents Make Final Push to Sway Maryland Voters
Both sides of the debate to legalize slot-machine gambling in Maryland are making their final pitch before voters hit the polls Tuesday to decide whether to amend the state’s constitution and set up 15,000 slot machines in the state.
Marylanders United to Stop Slots hosted a rally Monday in Annapolis featuring Comptroller Peter Franchot and NAACP Baltimore chapter President Marvin L. “Doc” Cheatham.
The anti-slots group also made various appearances at Washington, D.C. Metro stops in suburban Maryland on Monday, passing out literature on why voters should reject the referendum.
Meanwhile, pro-slots group For Maryland For Our Future launched an Internet ad campaign during the weekend, adding to a slew of television ads the organization already had been running.
Maryland lawmakers approved a slots referendum bill, known as Question 2, last year that calls for residents to vote on whether to legalize the slot machines in Maryland. The slots plan put forth by the General Assembly could generate $1.4 billion for the state by fiscal year 2013.
If approved, the slots plan would allow parlors at five locations: near Laurel Race Course in Anne Arundel County; in Baltimore City near Interstate 95 and Route 295; near Ocean Downs race course in Worcester County; near I-95 in Cecil County; and at Rocky Gap State Park in Allegany County. About half the revenue from slots would help fund public education in the state. Seven percent to horse racing purses, 5.5 percent would go to local governments, 2.5 percent to racetrack renewal, and 1.5 percent to a $20 million minority business investment fund.
Pro-slots groups argue that Maryland loses $400 million annually to neighboring states from residents traveling to play the video machines and not approving slots would worsen the state’s budget deficit.
Anti-slots groups, however, question how much revenue slots will generate for the state and say with the nation’s current economic crisis the timing to ramp up gambling in Maryland isn’t right.
