A group of Prince George’s County elected officials came out against allowing slots in Maryland on Tuesday, an issue voters will decide in November.
State’s Attorney Glenn Ivey organized the news conference outside Deerfield Run Elementary School, a backdrop officials used to highlight their belief that allowing slot machines would threaten the moral upbringing of the county’s children.
“I am opposed to slots because they take money away from the families and children I waselected to serve,” said Board of Education Member Rosalind Johnson.
Del. Joseline Pena-Melnyk added, ” We’re at a school where we’re trying to teach [children] right from wrong. … We should not balance the budget on those dollars.”
If passed, the law would allow machines in five sites: one each in Baltimore City and Allegany, Anne Arundel, Cecil and Worcester counties.
Although no machines are planned for Prince George’s, officials pointed to how 20 percent of all state lottery sales are made in the county as reason for their belief that county residents would be heavy users of nearby betting machines.
Proponents of the bill, including Gov. Martin O’Malley, have said Maryland stands to lose the dollars that could be generated by slots to bordering states that allow them, like West Virginia and Pennsylvania.
Supporters also point to the estimated $600 million in revenue, much of which would go to schools, as reason for their support. Helping the state’s beleaguered horse racing industry with a $100 million allotment would also benefit the state, they say.
But Del. Doyle Niemann said the proposal “just doesn’t make sense. We’re creating a billion-dollar industry just so we can tax it. … Every dollar that comes out of it could would have gone to other businesses.”
For Ivey it was all about law and order.
“I’ve got more than enough work here in Prince George’s County, and we don’t need things like slots to bring more trouble,” he said.
