In the arms race of legalized gambling, Delaware last week pushed its chips "all in" as Gov. Jack Markell signed a bill legalizing sports betting and table games. If all goes as planned (and professional sports leagues are unsuccessful in their legal attempts to ensure it doesn't), the state's three racinos could be taking sports bets by fall and running table games before the end of the year.
This makes Maryland the proverbial Pakistan of the gambling cold war. We may have recently gotten the big one - slots - but our arsenal-in-progress is a pittance compared to the major players.
Naturally, Delaware's decision set off an immediate case of gaming envy in certain circles in Annapolis. When lawmakers last debated slots, they went out of their way to counter the slippery-slope argument that approving one-armed bandits would eventually lead to full-scale casinos.
Yet there goes Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller, Maryland horse racing's best friend, instantly fretting that West Virginia (which has some table games) and Delaware are "way ahead of us." The question is, headed to where?
Sports betting and table games are not the same thing as slot machines. Table games, in particular, cost more to play and appeal to a different, generally more affluent and educated clientele. In retrospect, it's peculiar that lawmakers in Annapolis never gave them serious thought during the slots debate.
So what does Delaware's expansion mean for the future of Maryland slots? Here's the likely answer: not much.
Delaware has already proven that. The presence of Atlantic City casinos didn't keep Delaware's slots parlors from prospering over the years, and the distance from Arundel Mills to Delaware Park is roughly the same as Delaware Park to Atlantic City.
Slots players will play slots, and they'll no doubt prefer to stay close to home, whether that's Delaware or Maryland. Those who prefer table games or sports betting may eventually be headed to Delaware, but there isn't necessarily much overlap with the slots customers.
But you can bet that once Delaware has its new games up and running, some enterprising gaming industry lobbyist will be counting the Maryland license plates in Diamond State racino parking lots and urging legislators in Annapolis to recapture this "lost" revenue with jai alai or bullfighting contests or whatever comes next. In any arms race, there are always profiteers anxious to keep the buildup going.
