Slot machines are dead once more in the Maryland legislature. Is the state’s horse racing industry next to go?
A bill legalizing slots was quietly tabled in the Ways and Means Committee with new Gov. Martin O’Malley preferring to deal with it in 2008. A double blow came when a racing industry proposal for $30 million in purse supplements to remain competitive with neighboring states was halved.
No slots again means Maryland racing becomes the weakest circuit from New York to Florida. Once the lion of the Mid-Atlantic, Maryland has already seen its annual live dates shrink from 220 to 185 and the elimination of the $500,000 Pimlico Special that once featured Seabiscuit versus War Admiral.
If you never attend racing, you may wonder, ‘So what?’ Well, when that pretty green space of a farm becomes another housing development — clogging roads and overcrowding schools that further elevate state and property taxes to accommodate new residents — you’ll understand the sport’s importance.
Maryland is already operating under a $4 billion budget deficit in 2008. More than 800,000 residents lack medical insurance. The Chesapeake Bay cleanup is decades behind.
Don’t even start about the roads.
O’Malley supports slots, but so did his predecessor, Republican Gov. Robert Ehrlich, who couldn’t get it past the Democratic-controlled legislature. The feeling was always party politics prevented slots passage to avoid benefiting Ehrlich. While a Democrat is once more in power, O’Malley decided there are more pressing needs.
Pennsylvania racing’s recent rise shows how quickly slots could restore Maryland. Philadelphia Park was nearly a haunted house in recent years, but slots filling the old grandstand recently caused a 40-car deep wait for valet parking. A percentage of profits for purses produced a fourfold increase over projections. The track now pays $300,000 daily in purses.
“The boogeyman in Pennsylvania is now real,” said Mike Pons, manager of Country Life Farm in Bel Air.
What’s that mean to state coffers?
Diminutive Delaware generated $206 million in tax revenues last year. Think what Maryland also drawing Virginia and District residents would do?
Maryland’s breeding industry is hemorrhaging. The 20,000 jobs related to thoroughbred racing are at risk. And don’t think the Preakness Stakes is untouchable.
One more year may be all Maryland racing can truly wait. It’s already a decade behind.
Rick Snider has covered local sports for 28 years. Contact him at [email protected].
