Gambling In Maryland

It sounds so simple: Institute new lottery-style gambling in Maryland similar to electronic keno and the state earns $50 million this fiscal year and $100 million (or more) in future years. But like all tales involving a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, this proposal is fraught with peril. It could prove to be a minus for Maryland.Gov. William Donald Schaefer has been persuaded to implement this plan to help balance the state budget. That is a commendable reason, but not if this game hurts Maryland's racing industry, competes with other lottery games and undercuts the Maryland Stadium Authority.

PORT DEPOSIT -- A group of developers unveiled details last night of their plans to build a retirement community, hotel, residential housing, offices and other businesses at the site of a closed naval training center in Cecil County. Developers estimated the project at the former Bainbridge Naval Training Center will cost $500 million to $750 million to build, and provide nonconstruc- tion jobs for as many as 7,000 people. The politically connected development group that is pursuing the project includes Baltimore's John Paterakis, a bakery and hotel owner who is a proponent of allowing casino gambling in Maryland.

If a proposal to build a gambling casino and hotel complex on Indian-owned land in Southern Maryland reaches the desk of Maryland's next governor, most of the men and women now running for that job say they would likely veto it.Piscataway Indians indigenous to Southern Maryland hope to obtain federal recognition as a tribe, which could be the first step toward buying land on which a casino complex could be built under provisions of a 1988 federal Indian gaming...

A powerful state legislator plans to introduce a bill Monday to legalize casino gambling in Maryland. Several major casinos are supporting a similar bill.Both bills would set up a state regulatory commission to issue permits to casinos offering poker, roulette wheels and slot machines, among other attractions.Sources familiar with the industry expect Baltimore's Inner Harbor and Prince George's County to be potential sites.Del. Sheila E. Hixson, chairwoman of the House Ways and Means Committee, is working on a bill that would allow about five casinos in the state and perhaps earmark some of the proceeds for disabled people.

The battle over legalized gambling in Maryland is at a high-water mark this year, say many of the participants in the debate. "It's kind of like a comet going across the horizon," said Del. Michael E. Busch, the Maryland House speaker whose opposition threatens to thwart the governor's push for slot machines to produce revenue for the state. "It burns very brightly and starts to dim out. Obviously, I think they had more momentum last year." Significant and contentious issues are typically taken up in a governor's second term.

Inside the air-conditioned clubhouse of Pimlico Race Course yesterday afternoon, Michael Cammarata stood among a crowd of mostly older men, all staring up at a sea of television sets showing simulcast horse races from across the country. When Philadelphia Park's fifth race began with the typical "And they're off!" from an announcer, Cammarata shouted taunts at the televised images of horses he didn't like and pumped his fist in the air when More Influence, the horse he had bet on to win, crossed the finish line ahead of all others.

For nearly two years, various interest groups have been pushing with little success for the legalization of some form of casino-style gambling in Maryland.And for almost as long, others have been advocating a cut in state income taxes.Finally, this week, the two issues came together in an unusual high-stakes linkage that threatens to dominate the remaining 2 1/2 months of the General Assembly's 90-day session.With Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller leading the charge, several key senators and delegates say they are willing to push for legislation that would combine a cut in the income tax with legalization of slot machines at the state's horse tracks.

Two more bidders emerged Friday to compete against MGM National Harbor for the right to build a casino in Prince George's County. Penn National Gaming submitted a proposal to the state's gaming control agency for a $700-million Hollywood Casino Resort at its Rosecroft Raceway site. And Maryland Casino LLC, a subsidiary of Greenwood Racing Inc., bid to build an $800 million Parx Casino Hotel & Spa in Fort Washington. MGM National Harbor dropped off its own proposal — outlined in 13 boxes of materials — Thursday for an expected $800-million project.

A letter to Governor O'Malley: When you first assumed office, you made it clear that you favored bringing slot gambling back to Maryland as a way to raise revenue for the state. Many citizens were against legalizing this exploitive activity which has historically been associated with crime. Yet when the General Assembly refused to go on record as being for or against the measure, it went to referendum as Question 2 on the ballot in 2008 and passed. Then many individuals in Anne Arundel County voted for the measure, assuming that a slot casino would not really affect them and that it might keep taxes lower, an idea which you and others strongly promoted.

On June 24, 2011, a middle-aged Harford County woman drove to the Hollywood Casino in Perryville to give authorities permission to arrest her for trespassing if she ever set foot again in one of Maryland's casinos. Before she signed the paperwork she wanted one last taste and lost hundreds of dollars at slot machines. "I considered it my last hurrah. That I was going to gamble and then I was going to sign myself out," said the 50-year-old woman, before a recent Gamblers Anonymous meeting at Mountain Christian Church in Joppa.