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Laurel Might Renew MD Slots Bid

The bankruptcy filing and the rejection of the Maryland Video Lottery Facility Location Commission will not necessarily keep the Laurel Racing Association from obtaining a bid to house some of the Old Line State’s slot machines. If Laurel wins a lawsuit against the VLFLC in the Anne Arundel County Circuit Court challenging the slot game licensing application requirements set forth for bidders, it will be clear to vie for the slot parlor location against Cordish Companies, who has entered a competing proposal.

The uphill struggle to install slot machine terminals at the Laurel Park racetrack was diverted again last Thursday when the Park’s parent company, Magna Entertainment of Ontario, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Magna is in hock for hundreds of millions of dollars in unpaid loans. Reports are that Magna has no plans to close the racetrack.

The VLFCL rejected Laurel/Magna’s bid for the planned slot machine parlor in Anne Arundel County. Of the five sites earmarked for slots in Maryland, the Anne Arundel site was the only one with dueling bids. In this case, Cordish wants to put almost five hundred video slot terminals at the Arundel Mills mall. Magna didn’t enclose a twenty-eight million dollar application fee that was required by the VLFLC, because they were concerned about recovering the money if the bid was rejected. Now, Magna is suing the state on the grounds that a licensing fee is unconstitutional. It’s likely that Magna would need a partner to help raise the funds to build a slot parlor at Laurel Park, but racetrack reps say that they fully believe that the proposal is still viable.

Back to March 2009 Archive.