A bill that would change the existing zoning law to allow city establishments to have more controversial video poker machines made for heated debate before the Baltimore City Council Wednesday, and included a query from City Council Member James Kraft, D District 1, as to whether or not gambling on the machines could be legalized.
Assistant City Solicitor Ellen DiPietro cautioned in her testimony to the council that the bill could”promote illegal gambling devices in the city.”
DiPietro cited a report from the Abell Foundation as evidence that many amusement machines were being used illegally.
“Many of the machines are being used illegally for gambling with payoffs,” she read from a prepared statement.
Kraft countered that not all of the devices were used for gambling.
“We should be careful about making assumptions about what these devices are used for,” Kraft said, adding that his district had “more bars than any other in the city,” he said. He also asked DiPietro “Could we make gambling on these machines legal?”
DiPietro responded that legalization was a state issue.
The bill would change the zoning law to increase the number of amusement devices allowed per “leisure” establishment from five to six. It also would allow devices like jukeboxes, pool tables and shuffleboard machines to be counted separately from video machines, a change that would increase the total number of gaming devices allowed to 11 per bar, restaurant or tavern.
But for bar owners in the city, the bill is more about survival.
“The bars need the revenues from these machines to stay in business,” said Frank D. Boston III, a representative of the Baltimore Beverage Licensing Association, which lobbies on behalf of city bar and tavern owners.
Vernon Oliver, president of the association and a bar owner himself, said the law also will help to clarify rules that are not enforced consistently.
“We?ve had eight devices for 40 years in my bar” he said. “And now the city won?t take our checks to license them. We just want clarity.”
