Casino Gambling

Mayor Kurt L. Schmoke has suddenly decided to take a stand against casinos in Baltimore. How odd. He was supposed to be awaiting the findings of a task force he appointed last year, chaired by retired Judge Harry A. Cole, before making a pronouncement. But in an election year, strange things can happen. Mr. Schmoke's politically motivated announcement that he opposes casinos now makes the Cole commission moot.When the mayor announced last year that the retired Court of Appeals judge would head the casino commission, he explained that the matter of legalizing casino gaming in Baltimore City involved such complicated questions that a thorough examination was required by a special panel.

Meeting to discuss casino gamblingA meeting on legalizing casino gambling in Maryland will be held at 7 p.m. Tuesday at the Glen Burnie United Methodist Church.The Anne Arundel County Coalition Opposed to Casino Gambling was formed to address proposals to permit a limited number of casinos and riverboat gambling throughout the state.A task force has scheduled several hearings to gauge public opinion before the issue is debated in the state General Assembly in January.The meeting is open to the public.

For Maryland's pro- and anti-casino forces, all roads lead to Easton today as a state commission holds the first of four public hearings on the issue.The meeting is expected to attract people from across the Eastern Shore, including the Mayor of Ocean City and harness-track horsemen from nearby Delmarva Downs Raceway. Bally Entertainment, a Chicago-based casino company, financed the horsemen's purchase of the beleaguered track with plans of possibly expanding gaming there."I don't want to see any increase in gambling anywhere," said Ocean City Mayor Roland E. "Fish" Powell, offering a preview of his testimony and echoing the sentiments of many in the shore resort.

Washington Mayor Sharon Pratt Kelly wants to bring casino gambling to the nation's capital. She feels it's an easy way to pay for a giant new convention center and also reduce the city's chronic budget deficit. Yet it also is a shortsighted move that ought to be resisted strongly by Marylanders.Despite the proliferation of gambling across the country, what is being proposed in the District of Columbia would surely bring out the worst elements of society. Washington already is plagued by a major crime epidemic; casino gambling would simply make matters worse.

The Baltimore Homeowners Coalition is using radio advertisements to criticize a city tax break for new hotels.The taxpayers group said the measure will open the door for casino gambling.During the next week, the City Council is expected to grant an estimated $75 million property tax break over 25 years to developers of the Wyndham hotel being built at President and Fleet streets in Inner Harbor East.The homeowners group contends that state law permitting the tax break also would allow the Wyndham hotel's owners, including chief partner H&S Bakery mogul John Paterakis Sr., to add casino gambling if the state ban is lifted.

FROSTBURG -- Maryland could expect to see a bonanza of new jobs and tax revenue if it legalizes casino gambling, officials from Mississippi and Missouri told a Maryland task force yesterday."

With a week remaining in the Schaefer administration, port officials are expected to ask the Board of Public Works today to approve the purchase of a 1.2-acre parcel from AlliedSignal Inc. to build an Inner Harbor cruise ship terminal.The passenger terminal -- expected to cost $50 million, or double initial projections -- is a priority with Gov. William Donald Schaefer, who is due to leave office next Wednesday. Because of the unexpectedly high cost, state officials said they must team with a private developer to help fund the facility.

National Harbor, just outside of our nation's capital, is a wonderful place for day-trippers from Baltimore ("Vegas on the Potomac? Some see it as a sure bet," May 29). I have been there several times and I'm sure that others from the area will eventually discover what is has to offer. What National Harbor does not need is casino gambling. Maryland's current law calls for five casinos. Two locations are currently open, with one at Arundel Mills opening on June 6. We do not need a sixth location.

To hear racing officials tell it, casino gambling is the only thing that can save Maryland's horse-race industry. They are attempting to create a panic situation so they can stampede regulators and legislators into approving casinos at the tracks.And yet a study by the Delaware government showed that the introduction of slot machines at race tracks actually harms racing: few slots players even bother to glance up at the live racing, much less place bets. They come to the track to do one thing: feed the one-armed bandits.

Self-Government is Always MessyThe editorial in The Sun for Howard County of Aug. 4, "The Business of Incorporation," does us all a real service by examining the decision of our county Chamber of Commerce to reject the proposed incorporation of Columbia. The chamber's main reason for rejecting the prospect of incorporation was that it could produce an instability bad for business.It reminds me that in 1770, and beyond, many "royalists" of our 13 colonies rejected our revolution and the prospect of establishing a constitutional federal "incorporation" called the United States of America.