Maryland Can Do It without Slot Machines

The new Governor, Martin O’Malley has released his new budget this week, and it does not entail legalizing slot machines. His budget is what you would consider rather conservative, and some think that he just needs to legalize the slot machines and stop holding back. Others say that since O’Malley has shown that it can be done without legalizing the slot machines that there is no reason for them to be legalized.

O’Malley said that he is not interested in legalizing slot machines just yet, that he wants to play it close to the vest and see where he can cut spending within the government first. He has raised spending a small 2.5% - which is better than the last governor’s who wanted to increase spending by 12% and have the slot machines pay for it. O’Malley decided to spend the money that he does have in some smart areas: school construction, spending on education, raising higher education spending, hiring new correctional officers, adding more prison security, etc. The list goes on and on, and he does it without legalizing slot machines or gambling.

However, if you aren’t legalizing slot machines, and you aren’t raising taxes, how do you do it? You take money out of the rainy day fund – to the tune of $975 million. This leaves the bare bones minimum of $675 million – and leaves him without an out for next year. Next budget will either see major cutbacks in spending or legalization of slot machines. The money has to come from somewhere.

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