Aberdeen Mayor Mike Bennett said he had not seen Craig's testimony yet and did not have an opinion on the issue.

A spokesman for Del. Glen Glass, who represents Harford and part of the Perryville area in Annapolis, said he could not immediately speak about the issue.

Suzanne Collins, a spokeswoman for Sen. Nancy Jacobs, who represents the same district as Glass, said Jacobs plans to attend a special legislative session on the issue if one is scheduled for July 9.

Collins also said she still has to look over a new report from the state's Department of Legislative Services and PricewaterhouseCoopers, which rebuffed concerns that a proposed casino in Prince George's County would significantly affect business at casinos elsewhere.

"Like" exploreharford's Facebook page

"She [Jacobs] thinks it's a complicated issue," Collins said. "She hasn't had a chance to pick apart that PricewaterhouseCoopers report."

"It's a complicated issue with many business implications," Collins added.

Craig defends position

Craig replied Thursday to claims that he has changed his stance on gambling in Harford.

"My comment years ago and my comment today is the same: I don't believe the government should rely on gambling to balance its budget," he said. "But if we are going to have gambling, then the money should be used in other things."

Craig said items like capital projects are the perfect way to use gambling funds.

The idea of only having five casino sites and limiting them to certain counties is problematic, Craig said.

"Why shouldn't it be six or seven or eight or nine?" he asked. "Why should Prince George's County be allowed to be the one that comes in and gets considered?"

Craig, who previously served in both the House of Delegates and the State Senate, was blunt about his hopes for the county legislative delegation's support on this issue.

"I hope our delegates would actually support the people of our county instead of themselves," he said, explaining he simply wants the idea of expanded gambling to be on a referendum.

"This is an issue that should go to the people of Harford County," he said. "The state shouldn't just select Prince George's County through a political deal."

Craig said when he was testifying on Tuesday, representatives from Charles County also came in to request gambling.

The county executive also said Harford has been hurt by the state allowing eight Eastern Shore counties to have slot machines in places like American Legion and Veterans of Foreign Wars halls. Cecil County is in that group.

"That severely hurt Harford County's American Legions, particularly on the eastern side of the county," he said. "We should all have that option to do it."

Finally, Craig called for the possibility of table gambling, which he also said should not be called table "games," to distinguish them from board games like Monopoly or Risk.

Regarding the likelihood of the General Assembly actually approving a casino in Harford so close to the one in Perryville, Craig insisted distance is not a problem. He pointed out that in places like Las Vegas, having casinos right next to each other is actually beneficial to everyone.

"My solution for the General Assembly is they should just get a deck of cards and split it," he said sarcastically. "I am not betting that they are going to do this, because they like to take an issue and be overwhelmed by it."