Calvert Won't Press State to Allow Bingo Machines

Plan for Nonprofits Called 'Premature'

Calvert County commissioners have decided not to push the General Assembly to allow nonprofit organizations to operate pseudo-slot machines to raise money for charity.

Commissioner Susan Shaw (R-Huntingtown) said last week that a measure drafted by the county attorney requesting that the legislature allow Calvert's fraternal, religious and veterans organizations to own slot machines was "premature" and would put legislators in "an awkward position."

Shaw said such a measure could open the door for other organizations, including 140 churches in the county, to operate the machines.

"It is not a good time to expand gambling in Calvert County," she said Tuesday during the commissioners' discussion about what they will seek when the General Assembly convenes next month.

Since 2001, organizations and commercial operations in Chesapeake Beach have been allowed by state law to operate instant-bingo or pseudo-slot machines.

This year, however, state lawmakers voted to banish them throughout the state but granted an exception to several Chesapeake Beach commercial organizations and nonprofit establishments, allowing them to operate the machines until July 1.

(In November, Maryland voters approved a ballot issue allowing up to 15,000 commercial slot machines to operate in five jurisdictions in the state. Calvert was not among them.)

The law passed this year also made an exception for fraternal, religious and veterans organizations in eight Eastern Shore counties. The law did not require establishments in those counties to cease operating slot machines by July 1.

"Why [on] the other side of the [Bay] Bridge are all the organizations allowed to have these machines?" asked Jack Gregory, former commander and executive board member of the American Legion Stallings-Williams Post 206 in Chesapeake Beach, which has operated as many as 15 pseudo-slot machines to raise money for charity.

Responding to legionnaires' concerns, Commissioner Linda L. Kelley (R-At Large) said she wanted to "level the playing field." But she also said the legislative proposal drafted by the Calvert attorney's office is "a broad brush" that could have led to a proliferation of the machines throughout the county.

"I think we need to get those kind of clarifications," she said in a recent interview.

Although state law had allowed the American Legion to operate pseudo slots until July 1, in November the county commissioners revamped Calvert's ordinances for charitable gaming, effectively shutting down the machines at Post 206 tomorrow. That means slots will operate at only two commercial establishments in Chesapeake Beach until July 1.

Commissioners decided last week to ask the legislature to simplify the requirements for obtaining permits to operate bingo games. Among other things, commissioners said they want educational organizations to be eligible under state law to hold charitable gaming events.

"We've created a monster with this bingo thing," Commissioner Barbara A. Stinnett (D-At Large) said at the regular meeting. "Grandma can't play bingo anymore."