The General Assembly's top officers resumed slot-machine discussions yesterday, with House Speaker Michael E. Busch presenting Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller with a memorandum of conditions to be met before gambling is expanded in Maryland.
Principles in the memo were similar to standards outlined by the House Ways and Means Committee at the end of the Assembly session this year, including state construction and ownership of slots palaces, Miller and Busch said.
"I think it's significant," said Miller, referring to the document. "But I don't think anything is going to happen until Pennsylvania moves forward later this month."
As in Maryland, Pennsylvania lawmakers are considering slots at racetracks and elsewhere, and could vote on a plan before they adjourn for the summer. Legalization there, observers say, would pressure Maryland legislators to act because the state would be nearly surrounded by gambling options.
Busch said he provided the documents - a copy of a committee report completed early this year and a four-page summary examining sites - at Miller's request. The House speaker has been the leading opponent of gambling and has killed a slots bill approved by the Senate for two consecutive years.
The conditions were drafted after a committee last summer examined issues such as putting slots parlors in minority neighborhoods, and whether the state or private businesses should own the facilities.
"I had the Ways and Means committee give him whatever information they had," Busch said. "It's nothing that's new."
But the effort shows that Busch is staying flexible in the slots debate, said Gerard E. Evans, a lobbyist who represents the Maryland Thoroughbred Horsemen's Association.
"It means the issue is moving forward," Evans said. "If the speaker were against slots, period, he would just say so."
Ehrlich had little comment on the gambling developments yesterday, but said he was increasingly concerned that Marylanders are leaving the state to gamble, particularly at the Charles Town racetrack in West Virginia. "I understand the majority of folks up there are from Maryland now," the governor said.
Miller and Busch have previously discussed the possibility of a special session this summer to adopt a constitutional amendment for gambling, placing the initiative on the November ballot. But Ehrlich has opposed such an option, and its prospects are uncertain.
"Putting something general on paper is much different than a bill," Miller said. "I very much appreciate the general memorandum from the speaker. We need to move forward with a bill, not a memorandum, as quickly and expeditiously as possible. ... We're not even to the point of going to the governor and saying, 'Can you overcome your opposition to a referendum?'"
The Senate president said he opposed Busch's concept for construction of slots parlors by the Maryland Stadium Authority.
"We need private enterprise involved," he said, "and we need no one owner getting enriched."
Principles in the memo were similar to standards outlined by the House Ways and Means Committee at the end of the Assembly session this year, including state construction and ownership of slots palaces, Miller and Busch said.
"I think it's significant," said Miller, referring to the document. "But I don't think anything is going to happen until Pennsylvania moves forward later this month."
As in Maryland, Pennsylvania lawmakers are considering slots at racetracks and elsewhere, and could vote on a plan before they adjourn for the summer. Legalization there, observers say, would pressure Maryland legislators to act because the state would be nearly surrounded by gambling options.
Busch said he provided the documents - a copy of a committee report completed early this year and a four-page summary examining sites - at Miller's request. The House speaker has been the leading opponent of gambling and has killed a slots bill approved by the Senate for two consecutive years.
The conditions were drafted after a committee last summer examined issues such as putting slots parlors in minority neighborhoods, and whether the state or private businesses should own the facilities.
"I had the Ways and Means committee give him whatever information they had," Busch said. "It's nothing that's new."
But the effort shows that Busch is staying flexible in the slots debate, said Gerard E. Evans, a lobbyist who represents the Maryland Thoroughbred Horsemen's Association.
"It means the issue is moving forward," Evans said. "If the speaker were against slots, period, he would just say so."
Ehrlich had little comment on the gambling developments yesterday, but said he was increasingly concerned that Marylanders are leaving the state to gamble, particularly at the Charles Town racetrack in West Virginia. "I understand the majority of folks up there are from Maryland now," the governor said.
Miller and Busch have previously discussed the possibility of a special session this summer to adopt a constitutional amendment for gambling, placing the initiative on the November ballot. But Ehrlich has opposed such an option, and its prospects are uncertain.
"Putting something general on paper is much different than a bill," Miller said. "I very much appreciate the general memorandum from the speaker. We need to move forward with a bill, not a memorandum, as quickly and expeditiously as possible. ... We're not even to the point of going to the governor and saying, 'Can you overcome your opposition to a referendum?'"
The Senate president said he opposed Busch's concept for construction of slots parlors by the Maryland Stadium Authority.
"We need private enterprise involved," he said, "and we need no one owner getting enriched."
