ANNAPOLIS – Prince George’s County Executive Rushern Baker said he is willing to phase in slot machines at a casino in the county, or even reduce the number of slots authorized at the potential site to save a gambling bill from dying in the House.
County officials have spent all week lobbying in the House of Delegates, where support for the bill to allow table games and a sixth Maryland casino site is thin.
Del. Frank Turner, who heads the House subcommittee responsible for the legislation, has floated the possibility of stripping the bill of the provision authorizing a casino site in Prince George’s County, or simply killing it in favor of other legislation that would expand gambling by adding only table games.
Others have suggested authorizing the Prince George’s site but only allowing table games at the casino, not slots.
But Baker said Friday morning the most lucrative deal for all parties would be to allow table games and a full Prince George’s casino.
“The best thing for the county and the state to maximize revenue is to have a sixth site with table games and slots, even if you do a phase in of those slots so that the other sites, primarily the Anne Arundel one, gets a chance to come up and running,” Baker said.
The phase-in could take between two to four years, Baker said.
Trimming the number of slots available at a casino in Prince George’s from the suggested 4,750 could appeal to developers of Maryland Live at Arundel Mills mall — developer Cordish Cos. has strongly opposed the sixth casino site as competition to its own casino, set to open in June.
The ideas illustrate that a compromise can still be made that would allow for Baker’s vision of a $1 billion casino at National Harbor, the county executive said.
Recent backing by six members of the nine-person Prince George’s County Council have encouraged Baker’s efforts. Twelve of the 23 members of the Prince George’s County House delegation are also on board.
“Clearly I wouldn’t have spent the entire week down here if I didn’t think this was important and I didn’t think we had a chance to get something through the legislature that would help bring back revenues to the county and help us in our economic development,” Baker said.
The gambling bill still must pass the House Ways and Committee and the full House of Delegates, as well as the subcommittee.
Gov. Martin O’Malley has said he thinks gambling is a poor method of raising state revenues.
