Under the development plan, the site would not only house a Hollywood-themed slots complex with memorabilia collected by Penn National but also a lighthouse-shaped welcome center where tourists could buy Orioles tickets and learn about Maryland. A movie-theater complex or an amphitheater for outdoor concerts are possibilities, too.
"They don't do anything halfway," John K. Burkley II said of the Stewarts. He is working on marketing the project, which he said probably won't get off the ground without slots.
The developers have begun selling the idea in a series of community meetings at Town Hall and the fire station, where they hand out brochures and show a video of satisfied residents in communities where Penn National runs a gambling venue.
FOR THE RECORD - An article in yesterday's editions about slot machines in Cecil County mistakenly reported the accomplishments of the racing horse Kelso. He was named Horse of the Year for five consecutive years.
THE BALTIMORE SUN REGRETS THE ERROR
Perhaps the biggest draw for local officials and residents is the prospect of 800 new jobs with full benefits. Community impact grants carved out from the slots proceeds would send as much as $10 million to local governments, which would also benefit from additional property, income and payroll taxes. Under the law, the developer that lands the slots license through competitive bidding would be required to spend $125 million on the facility, or $25 million for every 500 machines.
Rural Cecil County has been characterized by slots proponents as an ideal place to stanch the flow of gamblers leaving Maryland to play slots in bordering Delaware and Pennsylvania, and the area's ties to the horse-racing industry have helped prop up support because some of the slots revenue would augment purses. Horse farms stretch across the county that's the burial place for Triple Crown winner Kelso.
And over time, moral or religious opposition to gambling in this more conservative corner of Maryland has been dulled by its ubiquitousness. Veterans play at American Legion and VFW halls, and residents partake in Keno. "Even churches have bingo," said William Clark Manlove, president of the Cecil County Board of Commissioners.
But it has been economics that made Manlove and others converts to the pro-slots movement. While the area is expected to be somewhat insulated from economic doldrums as hundreds of families relocate there because of a national military base realignment, it has been hurt by recent turmoil in the housing market and in the automobile and financial industries in nearby Delaware.
Meanwhile, high gas prices are cutting deeply into budgets as roughly half of households commute outside the county to work.
