A proposal to allow up to 15,000 slot machines in Maryland drew criticism Sunday from the NAACP and the state comptroller.
Emerging from its annual convention in Ocean City, the NAACP asserted that slots would prey on the poor and never bring economic development to inner-city neighborhoods.
“It will be devastating for the low-income people,” said Jenkins Odoms, president of the state conference of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. “It will bring crime and it is addictive. It does nothing for the community.”
The comptroller, Peter Franchot, warned slots could be just the beginning of a push to bring more legalized gambling to the city.”Its not just a debate about putting a few slot machines in Baltimore; it?s a debate about whether the city is going to become a gambling destination,” Franchot said.
“It is a predatory industry. There is no such thing as limited slots. In state after state where slots have been legalized, the effort to expand them begins before the first machine is turned on.”
The comments came in response to a plan outlined Friday by Gov. Martin O?Malley to propose separate measures that would let legislators decide or put to referendum whether the slot machines would be allowed.
O?Malley, who as Baltimore mayor in 2005 dismissed slots as a “pretty morally bankrupt” solution to generate revenue, now looks to the machines as a key part of his plan to erase a $1.7 billion budget deficit.
In Baltimore, Mayor Sheila Dixon, who had publicly opposed bringing slots to a city already plagued by high crime and poverty, expressed support for the governor?s proposal Sunday. “I didn?t want Baltimore to be left off the table,” she said.
“We made a lot of progress in the city, but we would lose momentum with the budget cuts,” she added, referring to $200 million the city could lose if O?Malley doesn?t get the revenues he?s seeking.
O?Malley Slots Proposal
Gov. Martin O?Malley?s slots proposal calls for as many as 15,000 slot machines at five locations:
» 4,250 in Anne Arundel County within two miles of Route 295; Laurel Park racetrack qualifies.
» 3,500 in Baltimore City, in a nonresidential area within a half-mile of Interstate 95 and Maryland 295.
» 3,250 in Worcester County (near Ocean City) within a mile of the intersection of Routes 50 and 589; Ocean Downs Racetrack qualifies.
» 2,500 in Cecil County within two miles of I-95.
» 1,500 at state-owned Rocky Gap Lodge on I-68 in Allegany County.
Payout: 90 percent of money wagered will go back to bettors, who may not be under 21 or drunk. Bettors will be allowed no free food or drink at slots parlors.
Total state revenues: $500 million to $700 million
Revenue split:
» Half of the net revenues go to the Education Trust Fund for Thornton school aid and construction of schools and buildings at colleges and universities.
» Up to $100 million goes for horse racing purses and horse breeders.
» Up to $40 million goes to the Racetrack Renewal Fund; some of that must be used to improve quality and marketing of horse racing.
» 5.5 percent ($27 million or more) goes to aid jurisdictions where slots are located.
» 30 percent goes to slots licensees (operators).
» 1 percent goes to support capital and loans to minority- and female-owned businesses.
Preakness: To get racetrack renewal money, the Preakness must stay at Pimlico, or some other Maryland location.
Compulsive gambling: $6 million for fund to treat compulsive gamblers.
Source: Governor?s office
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