League of Women Voters of Maryland

The League of Women Voters of Maryland is very strongly opposed to adopting slots and slots casinos anywhere in Maryland. We now know that Maryland is the wealthiest state in the United States. Yet Governor O’Malley wants to raise lots of revenues in a predatory manner by establishing slots casinos around the state. Surely he must have recognized that those who have the least expendable money are more often the same individuals who will try to win at the slots casinos. Governor O’Malley should be very concerned about what can become devastating consequences for the poor. By proposing slots and slots casinos in Maryland, he is setting up the poor who are desperate to raise money. Governor O’Malley’s proposed Maryland Education Trust Fund creates a seductive choice. Adopt slots casinos and use the proceeds of video lottery terminals to pay for public education from PreK through college, including public school construction and capital improvements. Seductive, also, is the promise of this legislation to spend substantial funds on regional centers for compulsive gamblers and their families. What it fails to recognize is the need for treatment of Maryland citizens at such centers would not exist but for the proposal to substantially increase the risk of this disease created by the legislation. It appears to be a case of entrapment – offering citizens the opportunity to acquire a disease for which their own money can be used for treatment. The plan also attempts to mitigate some significant costs in local jurisdictions which will require significant on-going funds to protect local communities from the scourge of slots casinos in some neighborhoods. These are difficult economic times for many individuals and families, especially for those with limited resources. Gambling with slots can lead to addiction because it is so seductive and enticing. And the experts in this field know that slots are the single-most addictive form of gambling known to man. Just as in past slots proposals at the General Assembly, the bills require significant detail so as to hope that unseemly or nefarious individuals or organizations will not take over the slots casinos. This is a very serious concern. Slots licenses and lots of money sloshing around can create opportunities for money laundering. For example, about a decade or so ago, an Anne Arundel County licensing board discovered that organized crime interests were laundering money through a bingo parlor in northern Anne Arundel County, even though the key individuals involved lived in Hollywood, Florida, Chicago, and New York. We are pleased that the Governor is proposing some new and fairer legislation to raise revenues. For example, his proposal to make Maryland’s income tax more progressive could be a great start. This type of revenue enhancement is not predatory, unlike expanded gambling. We are not here to criticize the Governor’s attempt to revitalize horseracing in Maryland, but we do not believe that there is a compatible corollary between slots and horseracing. To quote Marc Fisher (Sunday, Washington Post, 28 October 2007) “ . . . the current plan is a colossal giveaway in which slots licenses will be handed out for next to nothing to track owners who may then sell those licenses for hundreds of millions. ‘That’s money that should be going to the taxpayers but instead goes to huge corporate interests,’ [Frank] Trigeiro says.” The very idea of expanding opportunities for Maryland citizens to be inflicted with financial, emotional, health and familial problems is repugnant. Allowing slots casinos to proliferate around our state is also repugnant. The League could support the segments of this legislation that require racetrack owners to provide health insurance to their employees and to utilize minority businesses for the construction and maintenance of their facilities. We would welcome the infusion of much-needed funds to support public education. However, we do not agree that public education is best funded by gambling revenues. What kind of example does that set for our children? The risk of potential harm to current and future citizens far outweighs the cost of creating and maintaining such an elaborate and predatory fundraising scheme. We very strongly urge the Senate Budget and Taxation Committee members and the House Ways and Means Committee members to vote no to this unnecessary and predatory proposal.