Slots commission wants table games in Maryland
By: Hayley Peterson
Examiner Staff
January 24, 2010
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A member of Maryland's slot machine commission wants lawmakers to consider adding table games -- such as poker, blackjack and craps -- to the state's slots sites.
D. Bruce Pool, a lawyer from Washington County, told commission members that Maryland needs "true casinos."
Neighboring states have started adding table games as revenue from slot machines plateaus.Delaware's House of Delegates approved table games at its slot machine sites Friday, on the heels of approvals in both Pennsylvania and Charles Town, W.Va.
Maryland is relatively new to the gambling ranks with voter approval of 15,000 slot machines in November 2008. Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller Jr. already has said he wants to expand the state's fledgling program, which has not gotten off the ground. Meanwhile, several Maryland lawmakers are still getting used to the idea of slots, and say they are hesitant to expand the program.
"I don't think that's the way you build budgets ... on gambling," said Sen. Paul Pinsky, D-Prince George's.
Table games weren't on the horizon for lawmakers in Pennsylvania, either, when the state's first casino opened in November 2006, said Doug Harbach, spokesman for the state's Gaming Control Board.
Now, the state is facing a budget gap and revenue from slots alone won't fill the hole.
"You start to see a diminishing return on slot machines after a while," Harbach said. Pennsylvania's governor signed table games legislation earlier this month to help close the budget shortfall with a quick $250 million in licensing fees.
Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley's 2011 budget proposal would close a $2 billion shortfall with a number of uncertain revenues, including a second surge of federal stimulus money and $85 million in revenue from slots that haven't been set up yet. O'Malley has said he does not have a fall-back plan if those revenues do not come through.
To legalize table games in Maryland, voters would have to approve a constitutional amendment.
