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Two MD Slot Proposals Shot Down

The story of the uphill battle to bring slot machines to Maryland casinos just got a bit more discouraging. It was announced today that Magna Entertainment’s bid for the license to a proposed slot parlor at the Laurel Park racetrack was shot down by a commission of the state Legislature. The location in Anne Arundel County (nestled between Baltimore and Washington D.C.) was the only one of five sites to receive dueling bids from companies interested in hosting slot machines, and the commission elected to accept the bid of Cordish Companies to install slot games at the Arudel Mills shopping mall.

In giving the official explanation as to why Magna’s bid was rejected, the commission mentioned the fact that Magna had failed to include an upfront deposit of over twenty-eighty million dollars in the economic details of its plan. Magna has already appealed the decision, and retorted that the deposit requirement mandated by the Senate is “constitutionally defective.” A representative stated that third-party legal advice had encouraged the Legislature to turn down the deal.

Magna is not the only would-be licensee to be disappointed this week. The slot machine commission also rejected the application of New York-based Empire Resorts to open a betting lodge in Alleghany County. Governor O’Malley’s grandiose plan to bring slots gambling back to Maryland after a 40+ year hiatus (and gambling taxes back to state coffers) is looking bleaker by the day, with very scant turnout from interested developers. Even if the Legislature had accepted five of the six applications turned in (since either Magna’s or Cordish’s would have to be rejected), fifteen thousand of the slots allowed by law would not be installed.

Back to February 2009 Archive.