When Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. scored a resounding victory in November's gubernatorial contest, it seemed to supporters of slot machine gaming that their payday had finally arrived in Maryland.

The backing of the Republican, who campaigned for slots as a tax-free remedy to the state's budget crisis, added conservative support to a policy already endorsed by many Democrats seeking to use the machines to fund cherished programs.

But a series of revelations in recent weeks has both supporters and opponents saying that the apparent greediness of gambling interests has stripped away the veneer of inevitability from slots.

"All of a sudden what looked like an easy coast to success now looks more like an uphill struggle," said Matthew Crenson, a political scientist at the Johns Hopkins University.

Supporters are undaunted, saying that expanded gambling is the only way for the state to raise the money it needs to balance its books without a politically unpalatable tax increase. And it is, after all, a top priority of a new chief executive.

"In my experience, the governor-elect gets his top priority in his first year. That's my sense of the history," said Michael J. Collins, who retired last year after serving 24 years in the General Assembly, most recently as a senator from Baltimore County.

Collins, who served as a co-chairman of a committee that explored expanded gaming and now believes slots are a bad idea for Maryland, predicts supporters will prevail. But he said they have not done themselves many favors in recent months.

"There is an old saying in politics: Pigs get fat, and hogs get slaughtered," Collins said.

Consider:

Shortly after the election, it was revealed that in October the chairman of the state's Democratic Party had quietly joined a group of investors seeking to buy Rosecroft Raceway in Prince George's County in hopes of getting slot machines there - despite the anti-slots position of his party's gubernatorial candidate, Kathleen Kennedy Townsend. The chairman, Wayne Rogers, has since left the post.

In a December disclosure to federal securities regulators, the new owners of Laurel Park and Pimlico Race Course acknowledged a side deal that could result in millions of dollars in slot revenues flowing to former owners of the tracks and others.

Under the deal, the tracks' current majority owner, Magna Entertainment Corp., will initially receive 35 percent of the net proceeds of any money designated to the tracks by lawmakers. That amount increases after five and 10 years, and, after the 20th reaches 100 percent.

The rest of the money will be split among about 20 current and former investors in the tracks, including track president Joseph De Francis, a New York conglomerate called Leucadia National Corp., and Joseph J. Grano Jr., the chairman of Wall Street's UBS PaineWebber Inc. Grano is also chairman of President Bush's Homeland Security Advisory Council.

In records released last week in response to a state Public Information Act request by The Sun, it was revealed that the estate of the late Redskins owner Jack Kent Cooke, who had made a loan to the track's former owners, also would benefit. His estate is due $6 million if slots are legalized by 2006.

A lot of slots

Last week, at the urging of Ehrlich, the often-bickering racing industry coalesced around a proposal for the distribution of slot machines and their revenues. Their idea: put more slots at each track than are in all but the biggest casino in Las Vegas.

Ehrlich distanced himself from the plan, which calls for nearly twice as many machines as he campaigned for, including a batch someday at Ocean Downs - a harness racing track near Ocean City, where city leaders have vowed to fight them.

But the news reinforced the perception of slots legislation as a muscular genie straining to escape its bottle.

African-American leaders in the state had gotten into the act previously, vowing to block slots legislation unless minority-owned businesses get a piece of the action.

And a group of politically connected developers that includes Baltimore's John Paterakis confirmed it wants to build a retirement community, hotels, offices and other businesses at the site of a closed naval training center in Cecil County - and would welcome the chance to put a casino there.

Foes enjoy the show

Kimberly S. Roman, co-chairwoman of NOcasiNO Maryland, which is fighting to keep slots out of the state, said the infighting and revelations about different prominent people and interest groups grasping for money from slots helps her effort.

"I feel they are cutting their own throats," Roman said. "They're the ones who are going to bleed to death, not me."

Of efforts to legalize slots, she said: "We've known it's been nothing but greed, but now the public is seeing that it's nothing but greed. It works for us."

Montgomery County Del. John A. Hurson, chairman of the Health and Government Operations Committee, said Ehrlich needs to immediately gain control of the slots debate because the excessive eagerness of interest groups is mucking up the process.

"It's a huge problem," Hurson said. "We are doing this exactly the wrong way. You are seeing a feeding frenzy of people who want to get their slice of the pie."

Hurson even suggested that Ehrlich remove slots from this year's agenda so he can conduct a comprehensive review of gambling issues and determine what is the best way to proceed.

"We need to take some time and figure out how we do this right," Hurson said. "This thing can easily die of its own weight."

But Ehrlich said the scramble for a share of the money won't necessarily hurt his push for the approval of slots. He said that as more groups claim a stake in the initiative, momentum behind his effort could strengthen.

For instance, Ehrlich said, he was pleased at the Legislative Black Caucus' interest in securing a share for minorities.

"Any real or perceived stakeholder in the process is welcome," he said.

'Always a tough fight'

Lawrence A. Klatzkin, a gaming analyst with the investment banking firm Jefferies & Company in New York, said fireworks are common when gambling is discussed by legislators.

"It's always a tough fight," he said. "You're talking about a lot of cash being divided up. It's been a long process in every state and it always involves a lot of politics."

Baltimore City Del. Howard P. Rawlings, chairman of the House Appropriations Committee and a longtime slots supporter, said any discussion involving millions of dollars engenders a great deal of posturing in the General Assembly.

"There's a lot of money to be made," Rawlings said. "I think the important thing is that people who historically have been left out - like women and African-Americans - have to be included in the process. Fairness is going to be one of the issues for me."

But Rawlings said he believes any slots legislation would be in jeopardy if the plan were to allow gambling beyond the four race tracks.

Crenson, the political scientist, said perception of a money grab by slot supporters is confirming the worst suspicions of opponents. That will work against slots both in the General Assembly and in a referendum, should lawmakers leave the matter up to the public.

Even though pro-slots forces will have plentiful cash for an advertising blitz, the spending could backfire, reinforcing an impression of monied interests run amok, he said. Lawmakers, too, could decide to cut out the troublesome middlemen and have slots run by the state.

Let voters decide?

A poll of conducted this month on behalf of The Sun showed that less than half - 48 percent - of registered voters favored slots at the racetracks, and 39 percent were opposed. But two of three Marylanders said voters should decide through a referendum whether to expand gambling - a position at odds with that of the governor-elect and legislators who want the money sooner to plug the budget gap.

"You can see support fading," Crenson said. "I think it's going to go to referendum, and I think it's going to get nasty."

Collins predicts that the state's political leaders will rein in the debate and keep the matter from referendum by tying it to a budget bill. The momentum, he said, remains on the side of slots.

"I think the governor-elect and the General Assembly won't allow boundless greed to prevail," Collins said.

Sun staff writers Tim Craig, Michael Dresser, Chris Guy and Ivan Penn contributed to this article.