Cash strapped Maryland should have allowed slots during the Ehrlich administration instead of denying a Republican a victory on this issue!
The blame and shame fall on the shoulders of both Busch and Miller!
Of course only the people's Republic of China could screw this issue up!
What a farce!
What a joke!
Typical of Maryland politics!
Smells like a tax hike after the next election!
How can you continually support these clowns is beyond me!

Karma

It's always been about the politicians. The only question is which of them befefits most!

The Arundel Mills site makes so much sense to me (and I live a mile from Laurel Park). Magna and its predecessor have done little right with the tracks in the past 20 years I've lived here. They take their customers for granted, whine about the market conditions, then ask the state for more money. Now, when they have a golden opportunity to get slots at the track, they don't pay the fee and cry about the rules. Unbelievable but certainly not unexpected.The Arundel Mills site has a successful operator behind it with big bucks and big plans -- exactly what the state needs and what will succeed.

This is the one and only slots proposal which makes sense for MD of the entire six. It gets rid of the failed Magna operators (vis-a-vis slots) whilst allowing Magna to receive a cash infusion to better manage Laurel and Pimlico. Cordish has the knowledge, capital and connections to pull this one off. If Magna is given the license, the Attorney General should investigate. In fact, he should be investigating the whole process to begin with. Something stinks.

And now if the Magna-Cordish thing wasn't enough, Mayor Dixon is now saying the city might not go forward with a slots site at all. The city wanted $36 million a year from a lease on a slots site (something none of the other local jurisdictions tried for), and now Baltimore's bid for a slots site sounds about as solid as the one for Rocky Gap, way out in the middle of nowhere. This is not looking good.

The law is the law and it needs to be followed. It is not put in place to be bent towards someone's benefit just because they are politically connected.
We can no longer tolerate this type of abuse of the law.
Magna was also connected in the scandal with the Gov. of Illonios.
There are other companies that are doing thing the right way that can put the slots at the tracks.
Toss Magna out!!!
No one wanted the slots more than I did. I worked very hard as an individual to promote the referendum.
Magna was a slots opponent.
They have no intrest in preserving the tracks or Maryland history.
Ask Magna how many times they tried to sell Bowie Training Center to real estate developers.
No matter what you have to pay taxes
It is what it is. We all have had enough of Magna, It's time for them to go!

one caution with cordish: they are a casino DEVELOPER not an operator. they claim credit for several casinos, but they are majority owned and operated by other parties, including Native American tribes. so their statements need to be parsed as well.

as for this entire process, it has been flawed from the beginning, thanks in part to michael busch, who eseentially wants the state to own the casinos. well, he got his wish - at a 67 per cent tax rate, it pretty much does. and that tells us the tale of why there is so little enthusiasm out there for putting up big bucks for little return. cordish, for all its big talk, is only seeking a license for 500 slots until it can see whether it can make a go of it.

don't expect a bonanza for anyone out of this flawed legislation.

Jay,
You are right on message. I was in a meeting several years ago where a powerful GA leader (of course a Dem) said almost verbatim that "no way can we let Ehrlich solve the state budget by allowing him to get a slots bill passed". Can you imagine if it would have passed in Ehrlich's first or second year in office; although the economy is tough now we would have beaten PA and opened first. Things might have worked out quite a bit differently.
Its really not about the people it's about the Dems staying in power.

The Arundel Mills site makes lots of sense, being convenient to the B-W Parkway and Routes 100 and I-97, and situated at an existing shopping/entertainment mecca. Yes, the whole process is flawed, and it's hard to fault Magna for not posting the exorbitant submission fee with no assurances, but "the rules is the rules," flawed or not. For the same reasons, it's not surprising that only 6 bids were submitted. Too bad if Don Fry catches hell. He should have seen this as a no-win situation.

So if the slots money is supposed to go for education, does that mean Maryland public schools will now feature a "gambling" track as part of their curriculums? After all, once slots are in casinos will be next and just think of all those high paying jobs!

Slots at the Mall?, I feel sorry for those people who bought those nice fancy houses down the road. Traffic is terrible now! Drop your kids off at the mall then gamble? Better yet why dont they build a slots parlor at six flags so the parents can play while their childeren run through the park ? Aundel is too close to the Baltimore site. This site really needs to be at the Race Track too, just a slot parlor is boring and will fail eventually. The site should be closest to D.C. and Va. and untapped market. Maryland should have had slots with Erlich, now this is going to get messed up! If Magna doesn't get slots, I guess it because they messed up and couldn't follow directions. CordishCo. does some nice projects but this I reallly can't vision do very well. I would love to see them do something in the Baltimore site.

Jeez, it is almost like someone wrote a book on how to completely screw up slots in Maryland. Then the Democrats went ahead bought the book and followed the directions completely. I hope the reason they did such a poor job is because they are being paid off. I would hate to think they really are this stupid.

This whole process is just as screwed up as the GA. The tax rate of 67% is insane. Can you imagine what the payout percentages on these slots will have to be to make a profit for the operators? Your going to get first time players and then few if any return players. No one in their right mind is going to MD slots when so much more is available in AC. No free food, no free drinks and no comp rooms in MD? Just think about what WV, PA, Del and AC are going to offer to keep their customers. MD is about four years too late on this whole issue.

it's a no brainer to choose cordish over magna. you'd have to be nuts to work with magna considering how little they have done to truly help md racing. that said the way this process is going by the time any significant amount of slots are put into place md racing will go from their current coma condition to being dead. it's an industry that for decades has never cared for the racing fan and now wants to be bailed out by slots. people who play slots rarely bet on the horses. yes the many breeding farms will be efffected if racing dies but there is always a risk being in business. the breeders should pack their bags and buy farms in pa. del and west va. md should use the slots revenue to improve schools, pay teachers better and use some of the money to attract out of state businesses to relocate to the state.

Here's an idea -- have Cordish develope the baltimore site, and then also develop the laurel park site. As is, it seems both these sites are lacking in proposals, while creating a brand new site elsewhere.

Keep slots out of the City.

What idiots! I'm going to enjoy this.

With so many idiotic blunders, it's hard to know where to start.

Maryland Politicians are well-known for taking money from one side. Now they are taking money from BOTH sides. That takes balls.

The horse racing industry is TOAST. Turn Pimlico, Laurel into large casinos with all the trimmings.

Watch the crime rate REALLY take off.

O'Malley, Miller & Busch (scumbags).

Slots should never be considered a solution to the budget problem. If they are going to allow gambling do it in a good way and build some nice casinos with slots and table games.
Magna should have no place in slots. They have poorly managed horse racing and have been counting on a pile of money from slots for a long time, they don't deserve a free basket of money.