Ehrlich Loosens Stance on
Off-track Slots
By
Michael Duck
Capital News Service
Wednesday, Nov. 12, 2003
ANNAPOLIS - Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. is willing to allow slot machine
parlors in venues other than racetracks, despite his goal of expanding
gambling to help Maryland's declining horse racing industry, he told
reporters Wednesday.
"My suspicion is, it will be a combination," Ehrlich said. "It will be
one or more tracks and one or more off-track locations."
Last spring, Ehrlich called for new slots exclusively at tracks to aid
the racing industry and to close a state budget gap, with particular
emphasis on funding education reform.
But House Speaker Michael Busch killed that bill and has since proposed
authorizing off-track slots, saying they would be more profitable for the
state.
Although Ehrlich stands by the bills he proposed last year, the governor
said, "We have said if we could get any progress from the speaker concerning
bill negotiations, we'll try to deal with his major concerns."
A new plan might respond to some of those concerns by granting only one
slots license to the joint owners of Laurel Park and Pimlico racetracks,
Ehrlich said. The governor said his staff has been in discussions with
Busch's.
Busch wouldn't say if Ehrlich's comments indicated a new willingness to
compromise.
"I don't think it would be fair for me to read anything into it," Busch
said. "I really can't comment, because I haven't had any discussions with
the governor in a month."
The House Ways and Means Committee is still studying a variety of
proposals for expanding gambling, Busch noted.
Despite Busch's emphasis on maximum returns for the state, Ehrlich
stressed that using slots revenue to fund educational reforms is not his
only priority.
"Before this devolved into a budget issue, as a result of overspending
and a loss of fiscal discipline, this was purely a horse racing issue for
years," Ehrlich said.
"We need to get younger people back at the track," Ehrlich said.
Maryland tracks need slots to stay competitive with venues in Delaware
and other states, track owners have argued. Slots money could fund larger
prizes for race winners, thus attracting better horses with bigger crowds
and saving Maryland's declining horse racing industry.
Putting slots elsewhere in Maryland will only hurt the industry, track
supporters say.
"I don't believe there's a correlation between racing and expansion of
gaming," Busch countered, pointing to a Maryland Tax Education Foundation
study released Wednesday that said slots don't save racetracks.
"I believe the horse racing industry has its own issues," Busch said. The
state, he said, must work with the industry, whether or not slots go to
tracks.
Copyright ©
2003
University of Maryland
Philip Merrill College of
Journalism
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