Development teams on Monday submitted six proposals to build slots facilities across Maryland but planned for fewer machines than state legislators had sought, potentially curbing expected revenue.
The proposals include one each for sites in Anne Arundel, Allegany, Cecil and Worcester counties and Baltimore City, and a second at one of those locations, said Don Fry, chairman of the state’s Video Lottery Facility Location Commission.
Fry would not specify which of the sites received two proposals or identify the applicants. Further details are expected today as commission staff sorts through dozens of boxes of bid materials.
The five largest proposals, if accepted, would provide for an initial 10,550 machines, eventually increasing to 13,000. The state had sought a maximum of 15,000 machines, and based an estimated $1.3 billion in revenue on that number.
However, Fry said fewer slots doesn’t necessarily mean less revenue.
“A company may believe because of their experience or marketing, their revenue from a machine may be different than the estimates,” Fry said.
One company, Pennsylvania-based Penn National Gaming Inc., said Monday it had submitted a bid for the Cecil County location, and seeks 500 video lottery terminals of a maximum 2,500 allowed by law at the site. Penn National owns Charles Town Races and Slots in West Virginia.
The number of machines was based not on the economy, but on uncertainty about the state’s stance on several questions, including how the machines would be acquired and operated and how the state would regulate them, said Eric Schippers, vice president for public affairs.
“The 500 is not based on the market, it’s based on the uncertainty around the process, and the questions that are still unanswered,” Schippers said. “They’re all unique, all the processes that happen for this [slots] are unique.”
The Maryland Jockey Club, owners of Laurel Park and Pimlico Race Course, scheduled and postponed two media sessions on Monday intended to “discuss the Anne Arundel slot machine license.” The organization has previously said it intends to bid for that license, but did not say Monday it had done so.
Baltimore developer The Cordish Co. has said it is interested in the Baltimore City or Anne Arundel license, the same two locations targeted by a partnership between Baltimore’s Banks Contracting Co. Inc. and Hard Rock International.
Staff Writers Len Lazarick and Jason Flanagan contributed to this story.
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