Using slot gambling revenues to prop up the ailing horse racing industry, provide money for education and other purposes has dramatically polarized Marylanders over the last few years. Here are some of their stories.
8/19/08
Baltimore’s faith leaders speak out against slots
Alvin Gwynn Sr. was a teenager in the 1960s when slot machines were in drugstores, grocery stores and bars and nightclubs throughout Baltimore.
The pastor of Friendship Baptist Church in Baltimore remembered the problems slots created in the community, most notably organized crime.
He doesn’t want those problems to return.
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10/29/07
NAACP to state: No slots
A proposal to allow up to 15,000 slot machines in Maryland drew criticism Sunday from the NAACP and the state comptroller.
Emerging from its annual convention in Ocean City, the NAACP asserted that slots would prey on the poor and never bring economic development to inner-city neighborhoods.
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10/26/07
Howard Council: Let state officials tackle slots
Howard council members agree that the slots issue is for the state delegation to tackle, but their responses were mixed on whether Howard should get the machines.
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10/26/07
Officials strongly support slots
Harford County officials hope that permitting slot machines will benefit the area’s ailing horse-farming industry — as long as the slots are elsewhere in the state.
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10/26/07
Economic impact of slots divides council
The Anne Arundel County Council is split over the economic impact of slots on the state.
Most agree, however, that whatever happens will likely be out of the council’s hands, no matter how it approves or disapproves of Gov. Martin O’Malley’s plans.
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10/25/07
Poll: support up for slots, but down for O‘Malley
Gov. Martin O’Malley’s approval rating has declined among Maryland voters, but those voters overwhelmingly support the governor’s plan to bring slot machines to the state, according to a new statewide poll released Wednesday.
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10/8/07
Church group opposes slots at racetrack
National Security Agency employees could sell intelligence secrets to support gambling habits if slots opened at Laurel Park racetrack, says a church group that opposes legalized gambling.
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9/10/07
Residents love to wager, but maybe not enough
For decades, the state has bet on gambling to produce big bucks.
The state lottery ranks eighth in the nation in total lottery sales, $266 per person in 2005, or about $500 million this fiscal year, according to the Tax Foundation.
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5/25/07
Coalition against slots revived
The coalition of groups that successfully fought the introduction of slot machines in Maryland is preparing to battle again in the fall when a special session of the General Assembly may be called to deal with a deficit.
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