Baltimore City Councilman Edward Reisinger said he was asked by a lobbying group that represents city bar owners to withdraw a bill that would increase the number of video poker machines allowed in the city because of the spread of the machines to convenience stores.
“The issue was proliferation of the machines in smaller outlets,” Reisinger said.
“They were concerned about convenience stores and laundromats being allowed to have more machines,” he said.
Reisinger said representatives of the Baltimore Licensed Beverage Association asked him to return the bill to the committee he chairs, Land Use and Transportation, to be changed. Reisinger ? who said he is an absentee bar owner ? said he can?t comment on the bill.
“When a sponsor asks for a bill to be withdrawn, I do it,” he said.
Several representatives of the Baltimore License Beverage Association contacted by The Examiner declined to comment.
Introduced in 2005, the bill would have allowed qualified city establishments ? including bar and restaurants ? to expand the number of the controversial video poker machines that many say are used for illegal gambling. Currently the law allows five amusement devices per establishment, but the bill would expand that number to six. It also would create a separate classification for pool tables and juke boxes so that bars could have up to 11 devices total. The bill would have doubled the number of machines allowed in convenience stores, depending on size and zoning permits.
A 2006 Abell Foundation report estimated video poker machines grossed from $55 million to $110 million in illegal gambling revenues annually in Baltimore. Joan Jacobson, who authored the report, said the bill would expand illegal gambling in the city.
“They?re simply putting illegal gambling machines all over Baltimore,” she said.
Mayor Sheila Dixon said Wednesday that the city also was looking into taxing the receipts of video poker machines.
