Big News for Maryland in 2008

According to Marylanders they think that the top news story for the state was the fact that voters chose to legalize slot machines. For years the General Assembly has been trying to get slot machines legalized again in the state but to no avail. Finally it ended up before the voters, and once they had spoken slot machines were legal again.

This was surprising to many as they thought that this was simply one more failed attempt at legalizing slot machines, but on November 4th, they came to pass. The state will now bring in 4,750 slot machines to an area that is within two miles of the Baltimore-Washington Parkway.

The problem for those that did not want to see the slot machines legalized is that they were fighting an uphill battle. They were grossly out funded from the start, and just couldn’t fight with the same revenue source that the pro slot machine people could. The group for the slot machines, For Maryland For Our Future, spent more than $6.9 million getting the slot machines passed – which is more than seven times the others’ budgets.

The voters responded to claims that programs would be cut and taxes would be raised if slot machines were not legalized by allowing them back in. Those opposed say that those for the slot machines grossly overstated the facts in the case and that they misrepresented what the state would actually see from the slot machines. They say that everyone is expecting millions to go to education and tax reform, when really a large portion of it goes right back to the tracks.
 

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