Maryland falling behind in race for gamblers

CHARLES TOWN, W.Va. — Rich Williamson is exactly the kind of person Maryland leaders had in mind when they decided to bring slots to the state.

For years, he has been traveling to West Virginia two or three times a week to gamble. Yet with one of Maryland’s largest slots parlors planned for just a few minutes from his Baltimore home, the furniture salesman has written off his home state.

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Maryland’s casino locations compared to neighboring states.

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Here’s why: During the past year, black jack, craps, roulette and other table games have debuted here, transforming the Hollywood Casino at Charles Town Races into a place far more akin to what gamblers find in Las Vegas.

And that has meant that Maryland — barely in the slots game — is falling further behind. Only two of the state’s five planned slots venues have opened, with the other three facing delays. In the meantime, neighboring states have considerably upped the ante, which worries not only supporters of Maryland gambling but also opponents.

All told, 18 casinos in West Virginia, Delaware and Pennsylvania have added table games, most of them since Maryland voters authorized slots in a 2008 ballot measure.

“If this is an arms race, we’re fighting missiles with muskets,” said Gerard Evans, an Annapolis lobbyist who has represented several pro-gambling interests in recent years, including Penn National Gaming, owner of one of the slots venues that have opened in Maryland as well as the casino in Charles Town.

To hear Williamson talk is to understand why some Maryland leaders are worried that unless the state finds a way to match the allure of the casino here, their reluctant plunge into slots may never produce its promised payout of $660 million a year for public education.

“Just a slots parlor doesn’t attract me in the least,” said Williamson, 52, as he stuffed his chips in his shorts pocket and took a break from a four-card poker table on a recent weeknight.

In coming months, debate is expected to begin in earnest among Maryland lawmakers over whether more should be done to keep people such as Williamson from making a cross-border trek to pass up a casino closer to them.

Casino owners say the legalization of table games would be a good start, allowing them to operate in a competitive market that has changed considerably since Maryland got into the slots business. Although table games are not as profitable as slots, operators say they lure additional customers, many in higher income brackets than a typical slots player.

Penn National’s sprawling property in Charles Town has more games than any site envisioned in Maryland, as well as a hotel, racetrack, upscale steak house, several bars and a live music venue under construction.

By contrast, the company’s 1,500-machine facility in Perryville, Md., has a buffet and one bar, which had only nine seats when it opened in September. Company officials largely blame Maryland’s tax rate on gambling revenue, which is among the highest in the nation.

The only other facility open in Maryland, at Ocean Downs racetrack on the Eastern Shore, is half the size of Perryville, with 750 slot machines.