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MD Bid Turnout Disappoints (1 of 2)

The state of Maryland was expecting a much more enthusiastic turnout when it opened bidding for the five available slot machine licenses that had been authorized by law during the last legislative session. Yesterday, just six proposals for the five slots filtered into the Capitol building in Annapolis, a number significantly less than what lawmakers had expected. Staffers pulled hand trucks weighed down with boxes of weighty official documents, but the dismal showing belied the size of the content. A constitutional amendment allowed for fifteen thousand slot machines to come into the Old Line State, but that allowance will be too much for now. Altogether, the six proposals (at least one of which will have to be rejected) request a total of ten thousand five hundred fifty slot terminals in the first phase of development, a number that would gradually settle at thirteen thousand by the end of the licensing and building process.

Donald Fry, the chairman of the Maryland commission in charge of the slot machine licensing process, said that officials were relieved to have at least received enough bids for the five possible slots venues – Allegany, Anne Arundel, Cecil, and Worcester counties, as well as the city of Baltimore. Unfortunately, four of the five sites will automatically be assigned to the bidders asking for them, unless the proposals are grossly unsuitable. Only one of the sites received competing bids. Fry would not give details as to whom the bidders were at this time, although a few have been leaked.

Continue to part 2 here.

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