National Harbor

Penn National has spent $13 million to defeat Question 7 and protect its gambling interests in Maryland. Now it may be abruptly altering its strategy. The Pennsylvania-based company, which owns Hollywood Casino Perryville, is in discussions with the Cordish Cos. about acquiring a 49 percent stake in the Maryland Live Casino, according to a state source familiar with details of the negotiations. The Washington Post first reported the talks on its Maryland Politics blog. Officials from Cordish Cos. could not be reached Tuesday.

With about a month to go before Election Day, I know it won't be long before the commercials get even more ominous. Any day now, I'm sure I'll see one that starts, in that scary-movie-trailer voice, "In a world in which …" I can even provide the rest of the ad copy: For the vote-yes-on-Question-7 set: "In a world in which gambling isn't expanded in Maryland, unemployment will rise to new heights and those out of work will sink to new lows....

With seven weeks to go before the Nov. 6 election, special interests with a stake in the gambling referendum have raised more than the amount spent by candidates in Maryland's last governor's race. With the addition of $3 million by MGM Resorts International, reported in a filing Tuesday with the state elections board, companies seeking to promote or scuttle a casino in Prince George's County have amassed $19.4 million. Of that, the opposing sides have spent $16.8 million, nearly equaling the $17 million spent in the 2010 contest between Gov. Martin O'Malley and Republican former Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr., and it seems likely that spending could surpass $20 million within weeks.

With the Maryland unemployment rate hovering around 7 percent and the pace of job creation slowed in recent months, it's fair to say that the Free State could use an economic boost of consequence. How fortunate that one has arrived at seemingly no charge to local residents or taxpayers — at least if politicians and voters play their cards right. We speak, of course, not of gambling but of the contemplation of gambling. As lucrative as expanded gambling might be in Maryland and elsewhere, it carries risks.

Casino owners, labor and other interests spent more than $3.6 million to influence lawmakers during last month's special session to expand gambling in Maryland - a figure that comes to about $900,000 a day for the four-day session, according to disclosure reports filed Monday. The biggest spender was a Washington-area labor organization which - with help from the owners of the National Harbor development - poured $2.7 million into television advertising designed to persuade the General Assembly to pass legislation authorizing table games and a new casino in Prince George's County.

A Washington-area labor organization poured $2.7 million into the fight for gambling expansion during the General Assembly's special session last month, according to its disclosure statement. The total reported by the Washington Building & Construction Trades Council, an umbrella organization of labor unions, was far greater than any other company or organization that had reported its spending by midday Monday. The council's spending, done in the name of Building Trades for National Harbor, came in a winning cause as the legislature passed legislation putting the questions of whether to allow table games and a new Prince George's County casino on the November ballot.

David Cordish refused to talk politics Wednesday at a celebration of the now-complete Maryland Live Casino. The casino just added its final complement of slot machines — 1,304 — for a total of 4,750, making it the nation's third-largest commercial casino. Cordish, chairman of the Cordish Cos., which owns and built the three-month-old casino next to Arundel Mills mall, touted the facility as one of the best in the country and said it would be the Mid-Atlantic's dominant gambling parlor for years to come.

MGM Resorts International will open a visitor center at National Harbor next week as part of its campaign to win approval of its plans to build a "destination" casino at the site on the Potomac River. The international casino and entertainment company said it will open a storefront center along the mixed-use development's main drag to offer visitors information about MGM's plans to the resort, which will likely be decided in a referendum on gambling expansion in November. MGM has been spending millions on television ads in its battle with Penn National Gaming over the fate of Question 7, which will ask voters whether they approve of table games at all casinos and a new gambling location in Prince George's County.

The Vegas-based company hoping to build a resort casino at National Harbor put up another $3 million to back a Maryland ballot question on expanding gambling, nearly matching the sum that Penn National Gaming has donated to defeat the measure. MGM Resorts International wrote a check for $2.9 million on Friday, bringing to $5.4 million the amount they've dedicated so far to passing "Question 7" in November. The competition, Penn National Gaming, has donated $5.5 million to an organization aimed at defeating the ballot question.