Sun coverage: Slot machines in Md.

Pa. firm seeks land here for casino

A national casino operator from Pennsylvania is close to securing an option to purchase Cecil County property near Interstate 95 for use as a slot machine gambling venue if voters this November approve the devices in Maryland.

2 sides on slots to have booths at fair

All's fair at the State Fair, the opposing sides of the slots fight agreed yesterday.

Math behind slots is open to debate

The state's November referendum on slot machines could come down to whose math voters believe

Two Anne Arundel councilmen enlist in anti-slot machine campaign

Two Anne Arundel County councilmen joined a statewide campaign yesterday urging residents to vote against a November referendum to legalize slot machines, saying that expanded gambling at Laurel Park would have a devastating impact on quality of life in the county.

Video poker crackdown due

Comptroller Peter Franchot announced yesterday a broad crackdown on video poker machines at Maryland bars, saying the tax collector's office would use its authority to enforce alcohol laws to pressure liquor-license holders to get rid of the "for-amusement-only" devices that he says are mostly operated as illegal slot machines.

Slots an issue at fair

The Maryland State Fair is usually a forum for cotton-candy vendors and kids in 4-H clubs showing off livestock - not political controversy.

Eyeing slots help, Chuckas takes Md. Jockey Club reins

Tom Chuckas spent his first official day as the president and chief operating officer of the Maryland Jockey Club in meetings, only to emerge yesterday to questions about his vision for the sport in Maryland.

Reject slots handouts, lawmakers urged

It's not enough for campaigns mobilizing to sway the November referendum on slot-machine gambling to reject money from gambling interests. A government watchdog group wants state politicians to do the same. Ryan O'Donnell, executive director of Common Cause Maryland, said he plans to send a letter to members of the General Assembly, asking them to refuse campaign contributions from gambling interests until voters decide the matter. Common Cause, which doesn't take a position on whether to legalize slots gambling, asked for the same pledge from pro-and anti-slots campaigns. "This is no longer a legislative process; it's a democratic process," O'Donnell said in an interview. "But still, let's keep it clean." Meanwhile, anti-slots forces announced that the Frederick County Chamber of Commerce decided to remain neutral on the issue. The statewide chamber has endorsed slots, but local chambers, including Ocean City and Annapolis, oppose the referendum.

Gambling case pays off for police

For the Queen Anne's County Sheriff's Department, their piece of what later evolved into a complex investigation into illegal gambling machines began with some thefts at a local high school. From there, deputies discovered that the suspect was using stolen cash to play the machines at a truck stop in Centreville.

Police ordered to check status of video machines

A Baltimore County judge gave the county Police Department two weeks yesterday to determine whether video machines seized during raids of dozens of area establishments are gambling devices.

Sun Exclusive

Magna positions itself for Md. slots

One piece of Preakness tradition appears to be missing this year: the prediction that without a quick infusion of cash from slot machine gambling, the race could be Baltimore's last.

On Horse Racing

Peter Schmuck: Eye of the storm

This might be hard to remember with everything that's going on these days, but there was a time when the Preakness was just a famous horse race that drew thousands of revelers to Pimlico and set one Saturday aside each year for Baltimore to be the center of the sporting universe.

Union won't back slots

Breaking with the state teachers union, the Montgomery County Education Association voted Wednesday night not to endorse Maryland's slot machine gambling referendum, according to a news release from Marylanders United to Stop Slots.

Labor group backs slots

A union group that represents more than 300,000 area workers endorsed a referendum yesterday to legalize slot machine gambling in Maryland, an announcement that underscores the institutional support proponents will have in the lead-up to November's vote.

Laura Vozzella: Slots foes bag a literary lion

What the Maryland slots debate really needs is a Pulitzer Prize-winning biographer, and luckily, Taylor Branch is up for it.

Rhetoric heating in slots battle

The statewide battle over a November referendum that would legalize slot machine gambling in Maryland heated up yesterday with sniping between Gov. Martin O'Malley, the ballot measure's chief proponent, and Comptroller Peter Franchot, an outspoken opponent.

Commission: Put slots at Laurel, Ocean Downs

The Maryland Racing Commission yesterday urged the state to place slots at Laurel Park and Ocean Downs, the only two tracks eligible under legislation approved during a special General Assembly session last year.

Slots role could put Franchot to the test

A rift has developed over Comptroller Peter Franchot's role in the campaign against legalizing slot machines in Maryland, with some in the anti-gambling coalition unsure whether his high political profile will help or hurt the effort.

Official focuses on bar games

Comptroller Peter Franchot is pushing for Baltimore City and Baltimore County to stop providing licenses for thousands of video gambling machines that critics allege make illegal, "under the table" payouts in area bars and restaurants.

Teachers union backs slots referendum

The state teachers union voted late Friday night to support voter approval of slot machine gambling in a November referendum, the union announced yesterday.

Lawmakers focus on slots spending

Lawmakers in Annapolis are moving to tighten up campaign reporting requirements for the November referendum on legalizing slot machines, as both sides gird for what's expected to be a free-spending battle to win voters.

Miller presses teachers for help on slots

Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller has told the leaders of the state's powerful teachers union that they need to support a November referendum to legalize slot machine gambling or be prepared for severe cuts in education funding.

Panel votes for ban on slots-like devices

A Senate committee voted almost unanimously yesterday to advance a bill seeking to ban slots-like video gambling machines that have proliferated throughout Maryland, setting the stage for the full Senate to take up the measure today.

Gansler issues ruling on gambling devices

Many of the electronic gambling machines that have proliferated across the state in recent months are illegal, according to an opinion released by Attorney General Douglas F. Gansler's office Monday.

Electronic bingo backed by strong lobbying push

Electronic gambling machines - devices that resemble slots - have been proliferating in rural Maryland counties recently, in part because of a concerted lobbying effort by their manufacturer.

Franchot urges ban on video gambling machines

Comptroller Peter Franchot, who has long opposed the expansion of gambling in Maryland, called on lawmakers today to approve legislation that would ban video gambling machines by next year.

Tracks balking at slots campaign

Maryland's pro-slots forces are planning an eight-month campaign for a referendum on expanded gambling that they say would fix the state's budget problems and save horse racing. But those who stand to benefit most - the state's racetrack owners - are balking at the effort and saying that they might not participate in the push for the ballot measure.

Bingo devices under threat

They look like slots, they play like slots, they pay out like slots, and they have proliferated for years under a legal loophole.

Slots plan is picked apart

Maryland lawmakers grilled aides to Gov. Martin O'Malley yesterday on his plan to allow up to 15,000 slot machines at five locations, raising questions about the proposed sites, local approval and the impact on the state's two thoroughbred racetracks.

Slots lose luster at Fla. track

Gulfstream Park, South Florida's major thoroughbred horse-racing track, installed slot machines last year, rows and rows of them. And gamblers came.

City's eye on slots site

An 11-acre warehouse district south of Baltimore's sports stadiums would become the home of a new slots facility under a proposal by Mayor Sheila Dixon's administration that officials said could cut city property taxes, The Sun has learned.

Majority favor slots

Anne Arundel County residents' opinions are decidedly mixed on Gov. Martin O'Malley's tax proposals to balance the state budget, with strong majorities favoring raising taxes on businesses and high-income earners but opposing increases in the sales and car-titling taxes, according to a new survey.

A vote on slots called odd bet

Around the country, ballot measures to allow slot machines or casinos usually fail, according to experts who study the issue.

O'Malley betting on slots

Reviving one of the most hotly debated issues in Annapolis, Gov. Martin O'Malley said yesterday that he will push for legalized slot machine gambling as a way to close Maryland's $1.7 billion budget gap, help the state's struggling horse industry and preserve open space.

Report makes case for Md. slots

The O'Malley administration released a report yesterday that concludes slot machines are necessary to protect Maryland's racing industry, giving the strongest indication yet that the governor intends to make expanded gambling part of his plan to close a projected $1.5 billion budget gap.

Slots measure still has the look of a loser

The joke for a while on the campaign trail was that Maryland voters who didn't want slot machines had two choices for governor: Montgomery County Executive Douglas M. Duncan, who opposed them, and Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr., whose repeated attempts to legalize them routinely ended in failure.