ANNAPOLIS – Maryland state senators are pushing a simplified referendum on slots for the 2012 ballot, one that would preauthorize a casino in Prince George’s County but leave the details of the facility to be worked out in another legislative session.
The Senate’s plan amends legislation introduced by Sen. Katherine Klausmeier, D-Baltimore, that would authorize Maryland casinos to run table games. The bill would now include a referendum for the state’s sixth casino site. Sen. Douglas J.J. Peters called the proposal a last-ditch effort to allow a vote this year to decide if the state wants a casino in Prince George’s.
The referendum would not require a majority of Prince George’s County voters to approve the casino site as requested by the County Council — there weren’t enough votes to pass the measure in the House, Peters said.
A late-hour plan pitched by House leadership Friday evening significantly altered the Senate’s original bill by allowing a sixth casino with table games, but no slots. The proposal was immediately panned by casino investors and Senate leaders.
“The [Senate] bill had a lot of infrastructure for a high-end destination facility and had a binding vote for Prince George’s County voters,” said Peters, a Prince George’s County Democrat. “It sounds like all that’s been stripped out.”
House Speaker Michael Busch, D-Anne Arundel, and other lawmakers were concerned the Senate bill favored the casino operators more than the state – a license holders’ share of slots revenue could have jumped from 33 percent to 48 percent in the Senate plan.
In the House’s version, slots revenue splits stay the same as they are now — with 67 percent of revenues going to state coffers — and table game revenues would be split 85-15 in favor of casino operators.
At the state’s five original authorized casino sites, the 15 percent share would go to the state. In Prince George’s, the county would collect that revenue.
The House plan also adds back designated funding from slots for a regional medical center in Prince George’s County, a measure County Executive Rushern Baker asked be stripped from the bill.
A vote on the amended Senate bill is scheduled for this afternoon.
