The Senate moved a step closer Thursday by supporting Gov. Martin O?Malley?s plan to install 15,000 slot machines at five locations but also allow voters to give the final say to the gambling measure on the 2008 ballot. It could raise about $500 million for education by 2012.
The Senate voted 30 to 17 to approve the referendum and the governor?s plan, with six liberal Democrats from the Washington suburbs joining 11 Republicans in opposing the plan. The referendum still must be voted upon by the full Senate.
Some of the Republicans who supported slots when GOP Gov. Robert Ehrlich proposed them opposed O?Malley?s plan because they wanted to work on the proposal during the regular session.
On another 30 to 17 vote, the Senate rejected efforts to remove the Ocean City site from the governor?s plan, and add Rosecroft Raceway in Prince George?s County.
Sen. Lowell Stoltzfus, whose Lower Shore district includes the ocean resort, said businesses and elected officials in Worcester County all opposed slot machines at Ocean Downs racetrack.
“Rosecroft would generate another $200 million” over what would be raised in Ocean City, Stoltzfus said. Putting the slots operation in Prince George?s “does not cannibalize existing businesses” as putting slots near a resort does.
Many lawmakers, including Senate President Thomas Mike Miller, support putting slots at Rosecroft, but O?Malley?s staff cited community opposition to the plan.
Stoltzfus repeated his misgivings about campaign contributions to O?Malley from William Rickman, owner of Ocean Downs. “There continues to be the appearance of impropriety,” Stoltzfus said.
Sen. Ed Kasemeyer, vice chairman of the Budget and Taxation Committee, said, “We didn?t have the resources to conduct an economic analysis. The sites that were selected were strategic.”
The Senate rejected efforts by Sen. George Della to force Baltimore City to lower its property tax rate with the money it will get from slots, as Mayor Sheila Dixon has suggested she would do.
“I think the mayor fully intends to do this,” said Sen. Nathaniel McFadden, chairman of the city delegation, arguing against the amendment.
