Maryland House Acts to Put Slots Before Voters

In Wee Hours, Full Chamber Ends Tussle Over Where the Machines, and Money, Would Go

Voters are likely to get the final say on whether to welcome slot-machine gambling to Maryland, following passage early this morning of legislation by the House of Delegates that provides details of a plan to place 15,000 machines at five locations around the state.

The 71 to 44 vote, which came at 1:40 a.m., was the second action needed to execute a proposal by Gov. Martin O'Malley (D) to hold a referendum next November on legalizing slots at venues in Baltimore and Allegany, Anne Arundel, Cecil and Worcester counties.

Two similar bills cleared the Senate a week ago, and lawmakers suggested differences could be resolved as early as today, breaking an impasse on an issue that has paralyzed Annapolis for years and prolonged a special session called to close a looming budget shortfall of at least $1.5 billion.

"The citizens of Maryland will have an opportunity to decide whether there's an expansion of gaming in Maryland," House Speaker Michael E. Busch (D-Anne Arundel) told reporters after the vote. "It has been a divisive issue for five years, and it was a reasonable way to bring it to resolution."

Leaders of both the House and Senate predicted earlier in the evening that if the second slots bill passed the House, the two chambers probably would be able to resolve their differences today on other issues pending in the three-week-old special session called by O'Malley (D).

The House approved a bill Friday night, 86 to 52, that authorized putting the question of legalizing slots to voters next November. The bill received one more vote than the required supermajority of 85 delegates and sparked impassioned debate.

The bill debated last night, which required only a simple majority of 71 delegates, addresses issues including how proceeds from the machines would be divided among the state, slots parlor operators and the horse-racing industry. It also outlines the criteria that a commission would use to award licenses at locations detailed in the bill.

The vote total was expected to change slightly in an official tally released later, as several delegates announced or changed their votes after the tally was announced.

Several anti-slots delegates who voted for the referendum as a way to break the legislature's impasse said they were reluctant to vote for the implementation bill, which they view as a more affirmative, pro-slots vote.

The House Ways and Means Committee sent the bill to the floor yesterday on a 14 to 5 vote. Several committee members who voted to move the bill forward said they saw no difference between their votes on the two slots bills.

O'Malley's proposal is expected to eventually yield $650 million a year for the state, with additional funds going to operators of slots parlors and the horse-racing industry, which is subsidized by slots in several surrounding states.

The Senate has passed slots bills in four of the past five years. The only slots legislation to clear the House prior to the special session came in 2005 and was declared dead-on-arrival in the Senate. Busch has historically been the legislature's most powerful slots opponent, but he agreed to support a referendum.