The state slots commission will try again to find a bidder for the site available in Western Maryland, officials said Monday.
The commission hopes to license a developer by the end of the year to build a 1,500-slot machine parlor at Rocky Gap State Park in Allegany County.
No one submitted a complete application for Rocky Gap the first time the state sought developers for the five sites approved for slots nearly two years ago. This year, the Maryland General Assembly reduced the tax rate for Rocky Gap in hopes of attracting a bidder.
The request for proposals could go out as soon as Wednesday, officials said. To speed the selection process, slots commission chairman Donald C. Fry said, interested parties will be required to submit a $100,000 deposit and background information on the development team members 45 days before the due date in early November.
Other slots issues dicussed at the commission meeting Monday in Annapolis included the failed bid for a slots emporium near the sports stadiums in Baltimore.
In December, the slots commission rejected a bid by the Baltimore City Entertainment Group because the developer had failed to meet deadlines for submitting plans and paying licensing fees.
BCEG, which included former Maryland Democratic Party Chairman Michael Cryor, Canadian homebuilder Michael Moldenhauer and several local developers, has appealed the rejection, and the board of contract appeals has set aside four days at the end of September to consider the case.
The lottery commission, which oversees the vetting of slots developers, also said BCEG owes more than $200,000 in fees for the background investigation, Fry said.
While the state is eager to find a developer for the Baltimore site, Fry said the slots commission must weigh the potential "chilling effect" of BCEG's appeal before putting together a new request for proposals for the 3,750-terminal facility, which would be one of the biggest and potentially most lurcative in the state.
The other large slots development, a 4,750-machine emporium near Arundel Mills mall, is tangled in court proceedings.
Fry said the state's first slots project, Hollywood Casino in Cecil County, is on track to open this fall. The slots commission is scheduled to tour the 1,500-machine building at the end of September. An invitation-only slots demonstration will be held Sept. 25.