DETROIT -- The three glitzy casinos in the heart of the Motor City offer a preview of what Maryland could expect if the General Assembly approves expanded gambling this year.
The huge, neon-lit facilities on the edge of mostly poor, predominantly African-American communities are open 24 hours a day and house thousands of slot machines. The bets range from nickel-a-pull to $100- a-pull for high-rolling risk takers.
The casinos are pumping millions of dollars into state and local government coffers, as intended. But they have carried a human toll as well -- family breakups, bankruptcies and similar problems.
The deal in Detroit differs from the one that Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. has proposed for Maryland in some significant respects. For example, Detroit -- rather than the state of Michigan -- gets the biggest share of the money raised through gambling taxes.
And Detroit has full-scale casinos, with blackjack, roulette, craps and other table games; Ehrlich wants slot machines only at three racetracks -- Pimlico, Laurel Park and Rosecroft -- and at one planned for Allegany County.
But that difference is not as significant as it may appear.
By far, most of the space at each Detroit casino is devoted to slot machines, from which casino owners say they earn 80 percent or more of their money. Each houses 2,500 to 3,000 slot machines and 80 to 100 table games. Ehrlich's plan would allow up to 3,500 electronic gambling devices at three Maryland tracks but no table games.
If Maryland gets its slots casinos, one lesson can be learned from Detroit -- there's no turning back the clock. Last year, the city received $111 million from the casinos -- 6.2 percent of its $1.8 billion general fund budget.
"The city government has already become addicted to the revenues," said slots critic Keith Crain, owner and publisher of Detroit-based Crain Communications Inc. "They wouldn't know what to do without it. It's just a fact of life."
`My only entertainment'
There is little question that Detroit's casinos are popular. They attract thousands of visitors a day -- mostly from the city and surrounding suburbs.
Juanita Thomas, 62, a retired housekeeper, was playing slots on a recent weekday afternoon at the Motor City Casino, owned by Mandalay Bay and local investors. She said she goes two to three times a month and usually takes about $100. Her primary income is her monthly Social Security check.
