Sun coverage: Slot machines in Md.

Baltimore OKs buying property for casino

Thirteen hours after Marylanders voted to legalize slot-machine gambling, Baltimore officials approved yesterday the city's $4.1 million purchase of land south of downtown for a proposed casino.

Md. slots vote gives hope to horse racing industry

With voter approval of slot machines in Tuesday's election, Maryland's horse racing industry knows it has gotten a clean break from the starting gate in chasing what promises to be a substantial increase in revenue. But breeders, owners, trainers, track operators and everyone else involved also know they have a long way to go in realizing the promise of what slots money might mean to their flagging industry.

O'Malley rides a Democratic wave

On the electoral map, Maryland just got bluer and Gov. Martin O'Malley's future got brighter.

Md. voters give OK to 15,000 slots

Marylanders voted overwhelmingly yesterday to legalize slot-machine gambling in the state after a rancorous campaign, dealing Gov. Martin O'Malley a ballot-box success and settling a debate over which politicians had deadlocked for years.

In Maryland, slots share the spotlight

Maryland voters will flock to the polls today, lured by a momentous presidential election but also called to decide on slot-machine gambling and to settle one of the most competitive congressional races in the country.

Will referendum be final word on Md. slots? Don't bet on it

After years of gridlock in Annapolis, millions of dollars spent by gambling interests, and incessant protest rallies, voters may render the final verdict Tuesday on slot machines in Maryland.

Pro-slots groups plan push to pass referendum

Cloverleaf Enterprises, which owns Rosecroft Raceway, and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, each plan to spend at least $10,000 on efforts to pass the referendum on slot-machine gambling, which goes before voters Tuesday, according to filings made with the Maryland State Board of Elections. Rosecroft would not be eligible to bid on a slots license if the proposal is approved, but Cloverleaf Chairman Kelley Rogers said the track would benefit from slots proceeds set aside to enhance horse-racing purses. The track suspended live racing this summer because of financial difficulties. Cloverleaf plans to spend more than $40,000 on phone banks to ask voters for their support. AFSCME has endorsed the referendum as a way to help solve the state's budget shortfalls.

Doubt raised on slots parlors

With next week's slots vote coming at a time of economic upheaval, state leaders are acknowledging that they might have to sweeten incentives for gambling companies to attract quality developers.

Faceoff: Can slots save horse racing in the long run, or are they a temporary fix?

Money lifeline? You bet

Anti-slots leader threatens to quit

The chairman of a group fighting Maryland's slot-machine referendum threatened yesterday to resign to protest "personal attacks" on Gov. Martin O'Malley made by the campaign and its political figurehead, Comptroller Peter Franchot.

Anti-gambling group to air TV ad on slots referendum

A week before Election Day, anti-gambling forces are launching their first television advertisement, hoping that a last-minute media push will help defeat a referendum to bring slot machine gambling to Maryland. The 30-second spot is to start airing today on Baltimore-area stations, said Scott Arceneaux of Marylanders United to Stop Slots. Legalizing slots will cost millions "in crime, bankruptcy and addiction," the ad's narrator says. A source with the campaign said the anti-slots group plans to spend about $200,000 on airtime between now and the election. The main pro-slots group, For Maryland For Our Future, started airing TV ads this month and has spent more than $1.5 million on radio and TV spots in the Baltimore and Washington markets.

Dan Rodricks: Slots aren't the answer to what ails the tracks

Here's what the people who run Laurel Park are willing to do to get you and me, betting customers, through the gates between now and the end of the year: half-price beers every time a randomly selected jockey wins a race on a Friday; a "special surprise" if one of us grabs the lucky rubber ducky out of the Laurel Lucky Duck Pond between 11 a.m. and noon Nov. 8; free apple or pumpkin pie to the first 5,500 fans on Thanksgiving Day; "Live Pasta Station" every Thursday in the Terrace Dining Room; free ice scraper to the first 4,000 fans Dec. 13.

Decision near on slots in the city

Just as Inner Harbor redevelopment transformed Baltimore's derelict port of rotting wharves and abandoned warehouses, Mayor Sheila Dixon's administration believes that a slot machine casino could revive a moribund industrial district while reducing city property taxes.

Slots advocates build cash lead

With less than two weeks to the election, pro-slots forces have extended their financial dominance over gambling foes, thanks largely to a $500,000 donation from a national union representing about 50,000 state and municipal workers.

Video: MPT looks at the five proposed slots locations

Video: The Baltimore Sun's Andy Green talks about slots referendum

Catholic group opposes slots

The Maryland Catholic Conference, which has taken a hard-line stance on social issues including abortion and gay marriage, said yesterday that it opposed slot-machine gambling in the state but encouraged its faithful to make up their own minds.

High stakes

Gambling opponents are hoping that an alliance with black churches produces an upset defeat of the slots referendum when an expected record number of African-Americans turn up at Maryland polling booths next month.

Slots no longer seen as fiscal fix

Recent economic turmoil has diminished Maryland tax collections so much that legalizing slot-machine gambling would no longer be enough to solve the state's long-term budget problems, according to new fiscal estimates.

Anti-slots group alters mistaken radio ad

An anti-slots ballot committee will modify its first radio advertisement and issue a formal retraction today after mistakenly listing a Baltimore faith-based nonprofit organization as an endorser, officials said yesterday. "We've never taken a position for or against slots," said Rob English, lead organizer for Baltimoreans United in Leadership Development (BUILD). "How dare they assume what an individual organization's position is?" Scott Arceneaux, a senior adviser to Marylanders United to Stop Slots, said that the anti-slots group mistakenly assumed BUILD was a supporter because Bishop Douglas I. Miles, a pastor affiliated with the group, had appeared at one of their anti-slots events. "I've apologized to Bishop Miles and we will change the ads and we'll put out a retraction," Arceneaux said. The radio spot started airing in the Baltimore market yesterday. Arceneaux said the anti-gambling group has bought $50,000 worth of airtime this week and hopes to continue airing ads until November, with television commercials closer to Election Day.

Franchot helps raise funds for anti-slots committee

Comptroller Peter Franchot has put his money where his mouth is in the slots debate, transferring $6,000 in campaign funds to a ballot committee opposing the gambling machines in the state. He also donated $500 of his own money. But that might be the extent of the contributions. His campaign cannot transfer more money under Maryland election law, and his campaign manager, Tim Daly, said yesterday that Franchot is "not independently wealthy" and "doesn't have intentions to contribute personally in a significant way." The donations were reported to the Maryland State Board of Elections late Friday. Voters will decide the slots referendum Nov. 4.

Slots supporters have the cash to back their cause

The horse-racing industry and gambling companies have pumped $3.8 million into a campaign to convince voters to approve slot machine gambling in Maryland, according to campaign finance documents released yesterday.

Dixon supports slots

Promising that revenue from slots machines would provide a "significant and permanent reduction" in city property taxes, Mayor Sheila Dixon and other local elected officials yesterday urged city residents to vote for a November ballot measure to expand gambling in the state.

Slots referendum debate hosts pro, con leaders

Har Sinai Congregation will host a debate on the statewide slots referendum at 10:30 a.m. Sunday in the temple at 2905 Walnut Ave., Owings Mills. Fred Puddester, chairman of For Maryland For Our Future, will argue for passage of the referendum and Aaron Meisner, chairman of Stop Slots Maryland, will argue against it. Audience members will be able to ask questions. Information: 410-654-9393.

Slots union concentrates on promoting referendum

Unite Here, a union that represents workers in gambling and other service industries, plans to spend at least $10,000 on efforts to pass the statewide referendum on slot-machine gambling in November, according to a filing made with the Maryland State Board of Elections. Roxie Herbekian, associate director of the union's Mid-Atlantic region, said yesterday that the money will be spent to rent transportation and print literature for a door-to-door canvassing operation to urge voters to approve the ballot proposal legalizing slots. She also said the union might send pro-slots mailings to members. It has 4,300 members working in Maryland, including at Laurel Park race track, which is expected to seek a slots license if the ballot proposal passes.

Budget cuts tied to slots

While the state braces for budget cuts that are expected to significantly impact bread-and-butter programs such as education and public safety, leading politicians are seizing the opportunity to talk about another hot topic - slot-machine gambling.

Officials' rift central to slots contest

The animus between Comptroller Peter Franchot and Gov. Martin O'Malley is taking center stage in the Maryland slots contest, providing a lively sideshow to a years-old debate to be decided by voters next month.

Dan Rodricks: Here's one way to call the slots tossup

The last poll I saw on slots showed about 54 percent of Marylanders still supporting a state constitutional amendment allowing the gambling machines. That support was not as large as it appeared to be eight or nine months ago, which fits a theory I have: The closer we get to Election Day, the more people will think about this, and the more they think about it, the more of a tossup the outcome. It all comes down to which of the following attitudes prevail.

Arundel slots proposal divides the community

Perhaps more than in any other place in Maryland, the debate over whether to allow slot-machine gambling hits home in Anne Arundel County, where the state's largest slots parlor might be built squarely in suburbia.

Slots advocates begin TV advertising campaign

Pro-slots television ads will begin airing today on Baltimore stations, marking another escalation in a hotly contested gambling referendum on the ballot this November. Steve Kearney, a spokesman for For Maryland For Our Future, the pro-slots ballot committee, called the purchase of airtime a "significant buy" but declined to provide specifics. Polls have shown solid support for slots in Maryland, and anti-slots activists are BRACing for a multimillion-dollar onslaught of pro-slots advertising, funded by gambling interests. Voters will decide next month whether to amend the state constitution to authorize 15,000 slot machines at five locations across the state.

Ehrlich voices opposition to slot-machine initiative

Former Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr., a longtime slots advocate whose repeated failure to pass a gambling proposal defined his four-year term, indicated yesterday that he planned to vote against a slots referendum on the November ballot.

Slots in W. Md. could be area's ruin – or salvation

At the verdant Rocky Gap Lodge & Golf Resort outside Cumberland, a retired nurse from Pennsylvania strolls the banks of man-made Lake Habeeb, relishing a vacation of spa treatments and boutique shopping while her husband plays the Jack Nicklaus-designed golf course.

Pro-slots radio ads begin airing in Balto.-D.C. area

Pro-slots radio ads began airing yesterday in the Baltimore and Washington markets after proponents of a gambling referendum made their first major purchase of airtime. An ad running on WBAL-Radio in Baltimore asserted that slots opponents have "proposed $700 million in new taxes" as an alternative to slots revenue. The anti-slots ballot committees have not proposed a tax increase, though some legislators support higher taxes as part of a budget-balancing plan. If approved by voters in November, slots are expected to bring in more than $600 million yearly, which would help fill projected budget gaps. Slots opponents said an advertising agency estimated the cost of the two-week pro-slots buy at about $240,000. Officials with For Maryland For Our Future, the pro-slots ballot committee, declined to discuss spending details, but confirmed a "substantial" investment in radio ads and television spots.

Cordish Cos. may enter slots license competition

Baltimore based Cordish Cos., which has built signature projects in the Inner Harbor and casinos in Florida, might compete for a slots license in Maryland if voters approve a November referendum legalizing the gambling machines, officials said.

Greater Baltimore group supports slots measure

The Greater Baltimore Committee, a group of regional business and civic leaders, announced its support of a November referendum authorizing 5,000 slot machines at five locations in Maryland. Committee President and CEO Donald C. Fry called the initiative a "reasonable way to provide needed additional revenues to our state." Because 5.5 percent of slots proceeds from a Baltimore facility would go to the city, "slots gaming would provide a revenue source that is sufficient enough to significantly reduce Baltimore City's property tax rate," Fry said.

Magna gets OK to use $2 million to promote slots

In a sign that pro-slots fundraising is heating up, the owner of Pimlico Race Course and Laurel Park has secured permission from its parent company to use up to $2 million to encourage voters to authorize slot machine gambling in Maryland this November, company officials announced.

Slots decision is a win for referendum proponents

A legal challenge to proposed ballot language for November's slot-machine referendum has mostly failed, although yesterday the state's highest court upheld a lower court's order to add one word to the hotly contested question.

With public divided, campaign to pass slots measure heats up

With recent polls showing a drop in popular support for slot machines, pro-slots forces in Maryland are ratcheting up their campaign for November's referendum. And as a budget crisis worsens, Gov. Martin O'Malley plans to visibly promote the slots initiative - potentially linking his political future to its success.

League of Women Voters opposes slots referendum

The League of Women voters joined the campaign yesterday against Maryland's November referendum on slot machine gambling, an unusual move for the nonpartisan organization that generally dedicates itself to voter education. The group's opposition centers not on the merits of gambling but on questions about the wording of the ballot question, according to a statement from the group's president, Lu Pierson. The wording is the subject of a lawsuit by slots opponents, who argue that that language is misleading because it states that proceeds would support education without mentioning that gambling interests and the horse racing industry would also benefit.

Highest Md. court to hear suit on slots referendum

The Maryland Court of Appeals will hear arguments Monday in a lawsuit protesting the ballot language for November's slot-machine referendum, the high court said yesterday. On Wednesday, a panel of Anne Arundel County Circuit Court judges ruled that the proposed ballot language was "misleading" but said it could be fixed by adding a single word to clarify that anticipated gambling revenues would "primarily" support state education programs. The current wording does not indicate that part of the money would go to other recipients, such as the gambling industry and the state lottery. That ruling was unsatisfactory to the plaintiffs, who are asking the court to alter the ballot language more significantly or to throw out the referendum entirely.

Slots ballot language ordered revised

A panel of Anne Arundel County Circuit Court judges ruled yesterday that the proposed ballot language for November's slot-machine referendum is "misleading" but said it could be fixed by adding a single word to clarify that state education programs are not the sole recipients of anticipated revenues.

Columbia Democrats to hold forum on slots

The Columbia Democratic Club will hold a community forum on November's slot machine gambling referendum Wednesday night. The event will feature Del. Frank S. Turner, a Howard County Democrat who helped craft the proposal, and Aaron Meisner, the chairman of Stop Slots Maryland. Voters will decide in November whether to amend Maryland's constitution to allow 15,000 slot machines divided among five locations around the state. The forum, which is open to the public, is scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. at the Jeffers Hill Neighborhood Center, 6030 Tamar Drive.

Video gaming machines seized

Authorities raided a corner bar in Southeast Baltimore yesterday and seized three video gaming machines that police said were used for illegal gambling, part of an effort by the Maryland Comptroller's Office to crack down on such devices in taverns and liquor establishments across the state.

UM Board of Regents endorses state plan for slots

Wading into a political debate, the state Board of Regents unanimously endorsed yesterday a plan to install 15,000 slot machines at five locations across Maryland.

Cecil residents split on prospect of slots

As residents of Perryville confront the prospect of a sprawling slot-machine complex opening in their historic town, many recall previous plans for economic development that never seemed to deliver on their promise.

Impact of vote on slots

As the November referendum on slots nears, Maryland voters can expect a barrage of warnings from proponents about what a "no" vote could mean: cuts to public education and health care, higher taxes and the demise of the state's horse racing legacy.

Slots attack on 2 fronts

Gambling opponents attacked the wording yesterday of a coming referendum to legalize slot machines on two fronts, with two groups asking the courts to intervene and one demanding that the Maryland State Board of Elections change the ballot language.

Slots foes ask rewrite

Slots opponents proposed alternative language yesterday for a voter referendum on November's ballot that would legalize slot machine casinos across the state.

Slots opponents drafting suit over ballot wording

Slots opponents are drafting a lawsuit to challenge the wording of a ballot question that will be put to voters in November on whether to legalize slot-machine gambling at five locations in Maryland.

To OC, slots present threat, opportunity

The dusty harness track in Berlin, with its minor-league charm and horse-and-buggy night races, is no threat to the tourism juggernaut on the beach five miles away - and that's just how Ocean City business and political leaders want to keep it.

Wealth driving 'No' vote on slots

Stewart Bainum Jr., who fought the Maryland lottery as a state lawmaker, left politics more than two decades ago. But the multimillionaire and hotel magnate is still playing a role in the debate over gambling in Maryland - he recently cut a $10,000 check to an organization that's working to sway voters against slot machines in the November referendum.

2 sides on slots to have booths at fair

All's fair at the State Fair, the opposing sides of the slots fight agreed yesterday.

Math behind slots is open to debate

The state's November referendum on slot machines could come down to whose math voters believe

Eyeing slots help, Chuckas takes Md. Jockey Club reins

Tom Chuckas spent his first official day as the president and chief operating officer of the Maryland Jockey Club in meetings, only to emerge yesterday to questions about his vision for the sport in Maryland.

Commission: Put slots at Laurel, Ocean Downs

The Maryland Racing Commission yesterday urged the state to place slots at Laurel Park and Ocean Downs, the only two tracks eligible under legislation approved during a special General Assembly session last year.

Official focuses on bar games

Comptroller Peter Franchot is pushing for Baltimore City and Baltimore County to stop providing licenses for thousands of video gambling machines that critics allege make illegal, "under the table" payouts in area bars and restaurants.

Teachers union backs slots referendum

The state teachers union voted late Friday night to support voter approval of slot machine gambling in a November referendum, the union announced yesterday.

Lawmakers focus on slots spending

Lawmakers in Annapolis are moving to tighten up campaign reporting requirements for the November referendum on legalizing slot machines, as both sides gird for what's expected to be a free-spending battle to win voters.

Miller presses teachers for help on slots

Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller has told the leaders of the state's powerful teachers union that they need to support a November referendum to legalize slot machine gambling or be prepared for severe cuts in education funding.

Panel votes for ban on slots-like devices

A Senate committee voted almost unanimously yesterday to advance a bill seeking to ban slots-like video gambling machines that have proliferated throughout Maryland, setting the stage for the full Senate to take up the measure today.

Gansler issues ruling on gambling devices

Many of the electronic gambling machines that have proliferated across the state in recent months are illegal, according to an opinion released by Attorney General Douglas F. Gansler's office Monday.

Electronic bingo backed by strong lobbying push

Electronic gambling machines - devices that resemble slots - have been proliferating in rural Maryland counties recently, in part because of a concerted lobbying effort by their manufacturer.

Franchot urges ban on video gambling machines

Comptroller Peter Franchot, who has long opposed the expansion of gambling in Maryland, called on lawmakers today to approve legislation that would ban video gambling machines by next year.

Tracks balking at slots campaign

Maryland's pro-slots forces are planning an eight-month campaign for a referendum on expanded gambling that they say would fix the state's budget problems and save horse racing. But those who stand to benefit most - the state's racetrack owners - are balking at the effort and saying that they might not participate in the push for the ballot measure.

Bingo devices under threat

They look like slots, they play like slots, they pay out like slots, and they have proliferated for years under a legal loophole.

Slots plan is picked apart

Maryland lawmakers grilled aides to Gov. Martin O'Malley yesterday on his plan to allow up to 15,000 slot machines at five locations, raising questions about the proposed sites, local approval and the impact on the state's two thoroughbred racetracks.

Slots lose luster at Fla. track

Gulfstream Park, South Florida's major thoroughbred horse-racing track, installed slot machines last year, rows and rows of them. And gamblers came.

City's eye on slots site

An 11-acre warehouse district south of Baltimore's sports stadiums would become the home of a new slots facility under a proposal by Mayor Sheila Dixon's administration that officials said could cut city property taxes, The Sun has learned.

Majority favor slots

Anne Arundel County residents' opinions are decidedly mixed on Gov. Martin O'Malley's tax proposals to balance the state budget, with strong majorities favoring raising taxes on businesses and high-income earners but opposing increases in the sales and car-titling taxes, according to a new survey.

A vote on slots called odd bet

Around the country, ballot measures to allow slot machines or casinos usually fail, according to experts who study the issue.

O'Malley betting on slots

Reviving one of the most hotly debated issues in Annapolis, Gov. Martin O'Malley said yesterday that he will push for legalized slot machine gambling as a way to close Maryland's $1.7 billion budget gap, help the state's struggling horse industry and preserve open space.

Slots measure still has the look of a loser

The joke for a while on the campaign trail was that Maryland voters who didn't want slot machines had two choices for governor: Montgomery County Executive Douglas M. Duncan, who opposed them, and Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr., whose repeated attempts to legalize them routinely ended in failure.