Maryland voters listening to the debate over legalizing slot-machine gambling in the state might be feeling a bit of deja vu - from the 2000 presidential race.
Back then, George W. Bush and Al Gore frequently lobbed accusations of "fuzzy math" when attacking each other's proposals for health care, taxes and Social Security. Now, as voters prepare to head to the polls for the November slots referendum, the pro- and anti-slots camps are having a similar dispute over the amount of money slot machines would generate.
The current debate over numbers is as mind-numbing as it was eight years ago, but just as critical to understanding the issue. Gov. Martin O'Malley, a Democrat, has said that slots would generate about $600 million or more annually to plug the state's structural budget deficit. Opponents say those estimates are hugely inflated for political reasons and conveniently ignore social and other costs.
"It's like playing a slot machine; you never know what revenue figure you're going to come up with," said Maryland Comptroller Peter Franchot, a leading figure in the fight against slots.
Proponents say their estimates come from the Department of Legislative Services, a well-respected agency in Annapolis that reviews legislation and provides other services to the General Assembly. To be precise, the department estimated that slots would bring $564,665,200 to the state by 2013.
Frederick W. Puddester, who was hand-picked by the governor to lead the pro-slots campaign, called Franchot's assertion about changing revenue estimates "ironic," considering that the department also advises the comptroller, the state's chief tax collector. "I guess they do brilliant work with the comptroller on income and sales taxes but not when it comes to slots," said Puddester, who was state budget secretary under Gov. Parris N. Glendening.
In the November referendum, voters will decide whether to amend the Maryland Constitution to authorize 15,000 slot machines in five localities: one each in Baltimore City and Anne Arundel, Baltimore, Cecil and Worcester counties.
By law, the slot machines must pay out an average of at least 87 percent of what gamblers put in each year. Of the remaining revenue, no more than a third would go to the slots parlor operator and about half to the state's education trust fund. The rest would go to augment horse racing purses, to local governments where the facilities are located, and to other programs. A separate fee would be paid by slots licensees to a fund to help problem gamblers.
