How many different ways can Maryland's slots proposal be messed up?
Perhaps this was all predictable from the start. Has there ever been a state that has acted so ambivalently over slots? That has had such a long-running, love-hate, passive-aggressive relationship with the darn things? That has flirted with them for years and years but, now that they're finally on our doorstep, can't quite bring itself to seal the deal with a satisfying, yes I said yes I will Yes ending?
More like, maybe I said maybe I will Maybe, as it's turned out, even though voters supposedly settled the matter back in November when they amended the Constitution to let 15,000 of the machines into the state.
Instead, if I might summarize what's happened since then, here's what's happened since then:
Six groups placed bids, but for only 6,550 slot machines.
Two of the six bidders couldn't, or wouldn't, follow the rules, so they were tossed out of the game, meaning we're now down to 5,800 proposed machines.
One of the five locations that was authorized to get slots is left out in the cold, with no current bid to operate a parlor, although perhaps bidding will be reopened for that.
One of the failed bidders is already in court crying no fair.
And the legislator who has fought hardest over the years for slots wants to scrap all this and start the bidding process all over again.
Great, a do-over. Somehow, it's always Groundhog Day in Maryland when it comes to slots.
No matter how you feel about slots, November's referendum at least promised an end to what had become endless dithering. After consuming God knows how many hours of political debate - on any number of deathbeds, you can be sure there will be wishes to have even a fraction of that time back - when slots finally went to the voters in the last election, it seemed that whatever the outcome, at least it would put a lid on this tiresome issue. Voters approved the constitutional amendment by a nearly 3-2 margin, and we were off to the races.
Well, not quite. And, in fact, as it stands now, the bid from Magna Entertainment Corp. that would have placed slots at its Laurel Park racetrack is one of the proposals that has been tossed out - and perhaps with it, as the threat goes, the very future of Maryland horse racing that slots were supposed to save in the first place.
