No rally, no protests. Slots returned to Annapolis Tuesday with little to no fanfare.
The Senate Budget and Taxation hearing room actually had empty seats in the gallery for the bill?s hearing, compared with previous years when witnesses spilled out into the hallway.
And Tuesday?s session likely will be the most the Legislature will debate about the issue during this 90-day session.
“Joe Bryce [legislative adviser for Gov. Martin O?Malley] from the governor?s office was sitting in the front row taking notes, and if the governor says to pull the trigger, we?ll pull the trigger and move forward,” said Senate President Thomas Mike Miller, the slots? biggest cheerleader in the General Assembly and the sponsor of this year?s major gambling bill.
Miller, who has pushed slots bills through his chamber for three of the last four years, said he introduced a bill this year for the sake of “keeping the dialogue going.” Miller has said repeatedly that slots will be part of the ultimate solution to the state?s looming fiscal woes, in addition to tax increases and cuts.
“This is not about myself, or the speaker or the governor,” he said. “It?s about the financial situation of the state.”
The proposal would legalize up to 15,500 video slot machines at up to seven locations throughout the state and would bring in an estimated $800 million annually for an education trust fund to pay for ongoing education initiatives and $150 million annually for school construction.
The bill also would set aside an estimated $95 million for purse funds, money the horse racing industry said Tuesday it desperately needed to avoid further cuts to the number of racing days.
“After all the cuts we?ve made, it?s all over now,” said Alan Foreman, general counsel for the Maryland Thoroughbred Horsemen?s Association. “At the end of 2007, we?re out of money. We are on the edge of a cliff. … Racing will come to an end as we know it this year.”
