Keno

Heroes are on stage in AnnapolisHaving it both ways is a political reflex, and the Maryland General Assembly just offered a classic example.First, senators climbed gallantly to the moral high ground in opposition to gambling. They voted to kill keno. Easy for them, said the House of Delegates. Senators were dumping a revenue-raiser without regard to the $100 million hole that would be left in the budget if keno were canned.Had the House joined the Senate in its war on the newest lottery game, the House would have had to identify budget cuts of $100 million and take the villain's rap for throwing infirm Marylanders into the streets.

Keno sales, which skyrocketed in the first month, are tailing off.February sales of the controversial bingo-like game totaled $17.1 million, or about 12 percent below the Maryland State Lottery Agency's projections for the month of $19.4 million, lottery figures show.The soft February keno sales contrast markedly with those in January when sales of $14.5 million were 45 percent above projections of $10 million for the month.Projections for February were much greater than for January because of the increasing number of keno outlets.

Odds are, keno is in Maryland to stay.Four days after a House committee killed bills that would have prohibited the controversial electronic numbers game, the full House crushed a move yesterday to let all 141 delegates debate the issue."

All it took yesterday was a simple four-letter word to turn an otherwise pleasant discussion into a shouting match between residents and their state representatives.Right at the end, when it appeared none of the 30 people who packed a small conference room at the Arundel Center North in Glen Burnie had anything else to say, someone mentioned "keno."The ensuing argument, mainly between state Sen. Philip C. Jimeno, D-District 31, and a Pasadena truck driver, Leonard Paskoski, centered on the morality of Maryland reaping gambling benefits.

A House of Delegates committee voted overwhelmingly last night to abolish the legislative scholarship program, the first time in at least 25 years that a House panel has attacked the cherished political perk.The Ways and Means Committee voted 23-1 for a bill that would end the $7 million program in October 1994. The proposal calls on the General Assembly to come back next year with a replacement aid program for middle-income college students -- but one that is not perceived as tainted by politics.

After hearing keno described as a polluter of morals -- and themselves as a bunch of hypocrites -- state senators did as expected yesterday and approved a bill that would pull the plug on the electronic lottery game at the end of the year.But while it allowed senators to take a stand, yesterday's 31-12 vote is probably meaningless. On Tuesday, a House subcommittee voted unanimously to kill all four House bills that were aimed at ending keno.That means there is little chance the Senate's anti-keno measure will even get a hearing in the House, and it is likely Maryland will continue to rely on revenues from the controversial game.

If state legislators take a hard look at the Schaefe administration's proposed $12 billion budget, they are likely to find a number of areas where cuts can be made that could easily balance revenue and spending without perpetuating the dangerously fast-paced gambling game of keno.Gov. William Donald Schaefer says he can't balance his budget without the keno revenue. That's not so. In fact, if the governor would heed the advice of House Republican leaders, he might save a bundle of money and go a long way toward eliminating the need for keno.

Why all the hype and all the frettingAbout gambling and Keno betting?Let the weak and greedy ones ambleTo their gambling joints and gamble!Don't let Schaefer chafe you; he has gutsFor wanting the state to get its Keno cuts!No matter what you think or what you say,Some people will always fritter awayTheir hard-earned money, their needed cash.Is Keno immoral? Balder--!Ha, ha, ha! Ho, ho, ho!Let the dreamers spend their dough!By all means, let them play K-E-N-O!Gunther BienesHavre de Grace

The county's chief administrative officer told the County Council last night that if the state legislature kills keno, Anne Arundel would lose $3.5 million in state aid next fiscal year.The loss of keno would cause a $100 million gap in next year's state budget, Dennis Parkinson, the chief administrative officer, said. As a result, local governments would lose $40 million to $50 million in state aid, he said."Under that scenario, we are looking again at about a $3.5 million cut in local aid" to the county, he said.

A state Senate committee voted yesterday to kill keno, the controversial electronic lottery game.But while lawmakers were predicting that the full Senate also would vote to get rid of the game, they continued to doubt that the House of Delegates would agree.By an 8-2 vote, the Senate Finance Committee approved a bill yesterday that would prevent the State Lottery Agency from installing any new keno terminals after June 1 and would require it to end the game outright by Dec. 31 of this year.