O’Malley Wants Lots of Slots

Governor Martin O’Malley of Maryland has proposed a new slots bill that would bring in up to 15,000 slots for the state, at five locations. He says that by bringing in that many slots they would be able to assist the state with their $1.7 billion budget deficit.

It even has support from some unlikely sources in the House, such as Speaker Michael Busch, who is well known for opposing any attempts at bringing slots into the state. For more than five years the Maryland General Assembly has seen bill after bill to bring in slots defeated because of measures by Busch who refused to allow slots in the state.

However, now he says that he would support the bill, as well as a referendum which would put it up for the voters to decide if they want slots in their state or not. He says that they will be considering the slots bill in a special session that has been called for this week, but he thinks that it could solve the problem of whether or not slots come into the state once and for all.

O’Malley’s proposal would bring 4,250 slots in Anne Arundel County, 3,500 in Baltimore City, 2,500 in Cecil County, 3,250 in Worcester County, and another 1,500 near Cumberland on state property. Experts say that although the slots would not completely eliminate the budget gap, it would go a long way towards helping to reduce it. They say that there is a good possibility that it could eliminate up to half of their deficit.

 

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