Too little too late for Maryland to play catch-up?

by David Grand
January 13, 2010

Sorry to say it. But that may well be the case, as regards Maryland's chances of competing with neighboring states for gambler's dollars.

For while it is just coming out of the starting blocks, after more than a decade of bitter debate and foot-dragging in the General Assembly, the states of West Virginia, Delaware and Pennsylvania have all the while been reaping the benefits of Maryland's dell-dallying.

To sweeten their pots even more, all three states will soon be offering the full array of casino games. And once they're up and running, no longer will Marylanders have to make that long trek to Atlantic City to find blackjack and crap tables, roulette wheels or poker rooms.

As James R. Karmel, a history professor at Harford College and gambling consultant said, "I always thought it was a mistake to limit Maryland casinos to slots, for they're just the nose under the tent."

Moreover, he says, "I never understood what the objection was to table games; for by the time Maryland's five slot machine parlors are operational, surrounding states will continue luring Marylanders across state lines in even greater numbers yet to their gaming facilities, and thereby significantly reduce Maryland's anticipated slots revenues, which were initially estimated at $600 million annually."

Other advantages that casinos have over slots-only parlors are; "that table games typically account for between 20 and 30 percent of casino revenues; that they, generally, draw a younger and more affluent clientele; and that two-thirds of slots players are women over forty, while three-quarters of table game players are under 40."

So, anyway you slice it, it looks like Maryland's procrastination in legalizing slots at five locations will be a classic example of being too little, too late in jumping on the bandwagon.

And considering the uphill battle it took for a referendum to be taken on a constitutional amendment allowing 15,000 slots at five locations around the state, the odds against the legislature ever agreeing-in the foreseeable future-to any expansion of gambling (that would likewise be subject to voter approval) are about the same odds as one has of being six times as likely to die from a lightning strike than from winning a lottery jackpot (albeit I don't doubt for a moment that were it to go to a referendum it would be approved as overwhelmingly as before).

Far-fetched as it may be from being approved by the General Assembly and signed into law by the governor, the only solution I can think of for leveling the playing field would be if one or more of the three Indian tribes remaining in Maryland-the Accohannock, Piscataway and Pocomokey-were to petition the governor for a gaming casino on its sovereign property.

To buttress their proposal, they could point to the fact that they are among the 545 federally recognized tribes by the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs. And in the 35 states in which they're located, 22 of them have Indian gaming establishments.

It's a win-win situation for their budgets, just as it would be a means for helping to solve Maryland's $2 billion budget deficit, as well as a boon for taxpayers, the cash-strapped counties and near moribund horse-racing industry.

Don't laugh too hard at what I'm suggesting, like they did before the Wright brothers built their flying machine..