Wealth driving 'No' vote on slots

Defeating slots = defeating O'Malley

Once the slots referendum (i.e. blatant Democratic political cowardice) is defeated, the general assembly will be required to raise MORE taxes in order to balance the budget. You really don't think the Dems will cut programs, do you?

Defeat for the referendum = big problems for the Dems and MOM. They've painted themselves into a political corner without a lot of good options. The economy is in the dumps and the taxpayers will absolutely revolt at the notion of more taxes.

…….and everybody please remember that Maryland is in this budget mess due to then-Gov. Parris Glendenning’s 2002 orgy of spending. Hopefully, the Dems will be hoisted on their own petard.

Slots do not belong in the state constitution or in the hands of the state.

I am not aginst slots, but I am against this referendum.

I find Mr. Bainum's anti gambling stance rather ironic considering he owns a large racehorse farm in Virginia and races and sells thoroughbreds under the Dinwiddie Farm banner. Hypocrisy from a politician, whoda thunk it?!

NoFreeRides wrote:

Slots do not belong in the state constitution or in the hands of the state.
I am not aginst slots, but I am against this referendum.

Agreed

Yep. It's all about feeding Da Almighty State. It ought to be about economic freedom. If the racetracks want to diversify into other areas of gambling that's their business (government's got nothing to say as long as appropriate taxes are being paid). Also, other businesses ought to be free to add or install gaming.
BTW, government is luring in horse racing into thinking it's going to have a monopoly on this casino gaming/machines. Government has gone back on such implicit promises in the past and will continue to do so. Racing people should realize they're walking into another trap.

I feel that if slots passed, it'd be too little, too late. If they would have installed slots at horse tracks at the beginning of Ehrlich's term, that would have been more conducive to making this effective. Since that time, the debate has grown stale and slots have gone up in surrounding states within reasonable driving distance of many MD gamblers. I feel like they missed the wave, a semi-decent idea wrapped up in red tape for too long.