Archive for the 'Slots' Category
This afternoon at the slots commission meeting, the Western Maryland delegation proposed ways to attract a bidder for the license at Rock Gap. The idea that carried the most weight was that the lodge should be included in the bid.
Continue reading ‘Western MD delegation proposes selling Rocky Gap with slots license’
The Assembly 2010 -Radio report for WNAV (1430AM) and WTTR (1470AM) [1:01m]:
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One of the big stories that has been popping up since I was busy with school is the vote on whether to approve a slots parlor to be built at the Arundel Mills Mall in Hanover.
The last development was the fact that Annapolis Mayor-elect Josh Cohen (D) would resign his Anne Arundel County Council seat on December 6, the day before he is inaugurated and the day before he is sworn in as Mayor of Annapolis. The move ensures that a possible pro-slots member would not be appointed in time for the vote. Cohen is anti-slots.
There has been a number of delays on the County Council voting to approve rezoning for slots at the Western Anne Arundel County based mall; but all of that could be a moot point if the state slots committee makes it’s move before the council. The Capital is reporting that their move before the council vote could indeed happen and all signs point to yes.
The city of Baltimore has indeed received it’s first proposal for a slots parlor, but much like the process earlier this year, it does not come without any controversy.
The Baltimore Sun says that the Baltimore City Entertainment Group is moving to build a five-story slots parlor with just over 3,700 slot machines and over 2,000 parking spaces in location on Russell Street. By the way, the number of slots is much higher that the 500 machines originally proposed, also in a different location which is causing one entity to cry foul.
The Record is reporting that the Perryville Town Commissioners have unanimously given preliminary approval to a slots parlor near the I-95 and Route 222 interchange. The 1,5000 machine pavilion is part of a larger project known as the Chesapeake Lighthouse project. There was no public comment.
The Anne Arundel County Council is holding off voting on any potential changes to the slots proposal near Arundel Mills Mall until Councilman Ed Middlebrooks (R-Dist. 2) has recovered from neck surgery.
The Capital says that the consensus between slots friends, slots foes and the council is that all members should be present for the amendments in addition to the final vote.
Baltimore Sun columnist Laura Vozella is reporting that the Ehrlich Team at Womble Carlyle has been hired to sell slots to the community around the Arundel Mills Mall.
Cordish Companies surprised everyone with their proposal to build a parlor in Hanover. A spokesman for Cordish says that the Governor is not personally involved.
State Attorney General Doug Gansler says that Magna Entertainment wants to freeze the slots process because it’s proposal for a slots parlor at Laurel Park in Anne Arundel County was thrown out of consideration for lack of paying the required fees.
The Baltimore Sun says that the state is challenging the lawsuit filed by Magna. Magna claiming in their suit that the bidding process for slots is unconstitutional. They did not pay the $28.5 million in required fees, later announcing that the money was placed in escrow. The commission charged with picking slots operators threw the bid out because of the incomplete application.
Baltimore City Council President Stephanie Rawlings-Blake urged the city’s economic development agency to craft the necessary zoning legislation for a voter-approved slots facility.
In a letter to the Baltimore Development Corporation, Rawlings-Blake wrote that “it is imperative that the City move expeditiously to bring this new facility online… There is too much at stake to allow further delay. Public education, jobs, lower taxes, economic development, and yes, even the Preakness Stakes are at risk.”
She noted that the primary purpose of slots facilities is to fund public schools and that the city relies heavily—more than any other local jurisdiction—on state education funding. “Any delay in approval and construction of a facility in Baltimore City will result in lost revenue potential for education, perhaps as much as $11 to $84 million annually,” she wrote.
Rawlings-Blake suggested that revenue from a strong profit-sharing land lease agreement based on the profitability of slots could be dedicated to reduce Baltimore City’s property tax rate in addition to beinging other economic benefits to Baltimore in this current economic downturn.
Two of the six slots proposals have been thrown out because they did not come with the required fees.
The Baltimore Sun reporting this afternoon that the vote was unanimous following Attorney General Doug Gansler’s advice that the commission did not have discretion to consider a proposal without the fees with it.
We know one of the people who did not pay the money is Magna Entrtainment, who owns Laurel Park in Western Anne Arundel County. They actually put the fees in an escrow account at a bank in the state. They are one of two people vying for a license in Anne Arundel County. The other proposal that was rejected was for the Rocky Gap resort in Western Maryland.
As far as Magna is concerned, they are taking up the saying, “If you can legislate, litigate.” They filed motion in Anne Arundel Circuit Court, should the bid be rejected. The filing this morning calls the entire bid process “constitutionally defective” and asks the court to prevent Laurel Park’s bid from being thrown out without a full court hearing. The motion is also seeking to forbid the commission from taking any action to disqualify Laurel Park for at least 10 days if an injunction is granted.
The good news, the people making bids on operating slots parlors have made their submissions. The bad news, the number of machines did not max out and one one location, Anne Arundel County, received more than one application and two of the groups did not pay the submission fee.
The Baltimore Sun says that only six bids came in for five locations. However, Governor Martin O’Malley (D) and House Speaker Michael Busch (D-Dist. 30) are trying to keep a positive spin on it, while a gambling analyst says that the turn out must be disappointing.
O’Malley also stated that there is no intrest in lowering the state’s 67 percent gambling tax. In the meantime, incomplete proposals for Laurel Park in Anne Arundel and Rocky Gap in Western Maryland could doom those projects. By incomplete, I mean that they did not submit $22.5 million required fees. Those two companies were roasted by Senate President Thomas Mike Miller (D-Dist. 27) for their “egregious” behavior. Miller blames the struggling U.S. economy.
If that was not enough, the group bidding for a license for Baltimore City reduced the number of machines that they proposed originally. The Sun also says that another group had backout because they did not see the license finacially viable, blaming the $36 million rent request from the city.
It should also be noted that O’Malley is planning on using the $90 million to close the budget gap.
More from The Baltimore Sun.
The seven member commission that will decide who will fill the slots of slot-machine operators met for the first time recently. They approved and sent out a 150-page bid request to potential operators.
The Baltimore Sun says that bids are due by the beginning of February, but allowed bidders until mid-April to supplement their bids with more detailed information.
The winning bids will more than likely not be announced until next fall.
The Baltimore Sun says that former Harford County lawmaker Donald Fry was appointed by Governor Martin O’Malley (D) to lead the commission which will hand out the slot licenses. Fry is currently the head of the Greater Baltimore Committee, a business advocacy group that has long advocated for slots as an economic stimulus for Central Maryland (the Baltimore region.)
In the meantime, The Sun also reporting that Senate President Thomas Mike Miller (D-Dist. 27) is planning to pick former Anne Arundel County Executive and Anne Arundel Senator Robert Neall (R), who is a slots opponent. That was a surprise to everyone, including Neall. Miller is also picking retired judge James H. Taylor, who was the first black judge in Prince George’s County. He was on the bench in the 1960s.
For his two picks, House Speaker Michael Busch (D-Dist. 30) is picking former Washington Co. Delegate D. Bruce Poole (D) and Thomas P. Barbera, a retired health-care executive from the Washington suburbs who is a registered Republican.
