More than a year after Marylanders voted for slot machines as a way to rescue the state’s saggingfinances, the effort to bring gambling revenue into the state has come up craps.

Pitching the referendum, Maryland’s political brass — from Gov. Martin O’Malley to Montgomery County Executive Ike Leggett — said gambling companies would flock to the state, paying tens of millions of dollars for licenses and uncorking torrents of money once the slots were up and running. In addition to fattening up the state’s treasury, gambling was supposed to cure Maryland’s storied but ailing horse-racing industry.