Question 7, the legalization of table games and expansion of approved casinos to National Harbor, is predictably the most expensive race being run in Maryland this year. Primarily funded by Casinos both for or against the question, other than Rob Sobhani it appears to be the only campaign with ads on television.
If you listen to the Casinos that aren’t here and want to build a new one, it sounds like a great deal. If you listen to the Casinos that are already here, voting for Question 7 will probably kill your cat. If you’re like me, you think there are already too many cute cat pictures all over the internet and are probably inclined to vote for Question 7, but let’s take a look at why you should vote for or against Question 7. Full disclosure, I once went to Las Vegas and I had a lot of fun.
1. More money for education. The legislature dedicated a portion of gambling revenue toward education so if you expand gambling to table games and a fifth site, there will be more money for education. The anti-crowd points to the fact that nothing in the law says MORE money will go toward education, only that it will be dedicated. The anti-crowd is absolutely right. Don’t expect to see more money go toward education if you vote for Question 7, only that you’ll have a dedicated pot of cash. Annapolis loves to shift funds whether it is from Program Open Space (even though O’Malley promised not to raid it) or the always victim Transportation Trust Fund. This is nothing new and exists for every revenue source in the State.
2. Taxes. Probably the most effective ads are the Against questions pointing out that this legislation gives Casino owners a tax break after asking regular citizens to pay higher taxes. It is true; however, the irony is the tax break was pushed by the crowd funding the ads against Question 7. It was always acknowledged when Maryland passed the initial slots bill that the tax rate was too high. The new tax rates are to correct the folly of the original legislation, which passed overwhelmingly at the ballot when it comes to ownership of slot machines and initial outlay of funds due to the belief that there would only be 5 sites. It is true that this legislation cut taxes for the casinos months after taxes were raised on others but it’s a claim without any perspective into just how high the tax rates were and why they are being cut.
3. Jobs. First on the construction jobs that are promised, the anti-crowd is saying that 90% of Marylanders won’t qualify for the jobs. This is true, but it’s due to union rules, something that if they mentioned in their ad would make all the Democrats they need to support it look bad. Only 10-15% of Maryland workers fall under the category of union construction workers so the anti-crowd is essentially union bashing in their ad, something that would sell Republicans, but as we know in Maryland you don’t care about Republican votes. Nobody is disputing (that I know of) the new 4,000 permanent jobs related to the dealers, pit bosses, and other casino jobs that would have an average salary of $55,000.
4. Fairness. The idea is that Maryland gave its word that there would be 5 sites, and they made their investment based on 5 sites. Essentially Maryland is damaging its reputation by changing the rules after the fact. This is true, and governments do this all the time. Isn’t that the case with any change in law? They increase taxes on you, but you made the decision last year to invest in something thinking about how the tax laws were then, and now the investment won’t pay out because of the change. You may think that the Ex Post Facto would apply here but it doesn’t.
5. John Leopold with an asterisks. If you hear a particular amount of complaints from politicians that already have a Casino in their jurisdiction, specifically Anne Arundel County, remember that they get a special cut of Casino profits, and if the Casinos lose money, so do the counties. Every time Anne Arundel County Executive John Leopold speaks, he should mention that he has a conflict of interest here in balancing his own budget. The Maryland Live Casino will see the largest hit with the opening of a National Harbor site. Of course, I heard that David Cordish makes the pit bosses at Maryland Live change Leopold’s colostomy bag every time he comes in, so that might require another conflict of interest statement when he talks.
6. Location. Here is one that no one is talking about. Other than the Baltimore City site and the Maryland Live site, all the Casino locations are close to border spots, however they only are near borders with states that already have full table games. Opening National Harbor would give Maryland an opportunity to do what no other Casino in the state does and that is draw money from outside of Maryland. Since Maryland and D.C. are doing so much better than we are when it comes to job creation, wouldn’t it be nice to get a little money back.
7. Freedom. We allow the lottery, we allow slots now, and we allow church carnivals with all their evil games of chance. If you are inherently against gambling and voted against the original bill, nothing is changing that you would like when it comes to expansion of gambling. But if you want to have the freedom to do what you want and don’t want a nanny stater to tell you what you can and can’t do, this opens up one more freedom to a Marylander.
I will give it to the “Vote No on 7” crowd; they are exploiting all the existing problems in Maryland to make this deal seem bad. It is an effective advertising campaign and is working as a recent survey came out and found that the question is currently losing by 2%. And “Vote No on 7” side is not lying about it either, but neither side is. How can this be as good as the pro-side says it is, but as bad as the anti-side says it is? It’s the whole reason I like being a political operative, the level of spin can be ratcheted up so high that there is no such thing as a fact.
But when you decide how to vote, ignore all of the arguments and just answer the basic question, should we allow table games in Maryland’s current casinos and at National Harbor?
Great article. Omalley wants to get the welfare money back by getting more poor blacks addicted to gambling.
Good to know you are net a racist. You know most of their revenue will be from WHITE people right? Im sure you ignored that though and just said what you really felt. Too bad you wouldnt say that in front of black people you coward.
Lou Dobbs of Fox Business did a comparison between Maryland and Virginia, with a Democratic governor and a Republican governor running these states. He said O’Malley has raised taxes 19 times. McDonnell in Virginia came into office with a deficit and has erased that and now has a surplus. People are leaving Maryland by the thousands along with businesses, and people are going to Virginia by the thousands. Unemployment in VA is 5.2%, and it is a Right to Work state. Maryland has a reputation as being anti-business, and the opposite is true for Virginia. This is all on a You Tube video. Great publicity for the once proud state of Maryland. Democrats believe in more spending and higher taxes. Look what has happened to the country under Obama, and if he is re-elected it will only get worse. Bob Woodward of Woodward and Bernstein fame of the Nixon years said in an interview that we will have to borrow $1-2 trillion more in February, and if something isn’t done, this country will face a Depression worse than the 30’s. Better get your debts paid up folks and stash some money away with a few gold coins.
But yet you still live in the GREAT State of Maryland??
She/he lives in PA, trashes Maryland quite often and has zero standing.
Cathy, you are full of crap, and Lou Dobbs…..well who cares what that biased old white man has to say! FOX Noise is so slanted, that it makes the Leaning Tower of Pisa look straight! 🙂
So if a minority and/or a woman had said it then it would have credibility? I guess because Dobbs is white and older than you then nothing he says can be true? Next time maybe Fox can get Juan Williams to say it. No, wait, he can’t tell the truth either because he is a what? An Oreo? You are racist and you discriminate based on age. What special characteristic do you have that makes that okay? Certainly not intellect.
The reason Virginia is better off than Maryland is because O’Malley has regularly assisted them in getting all of those “regional wins”.
Channeling Glenn Beck Cathy? Yes, let’s all put our money in Gold… because that is where there is security and comfort. Because a guy with a history of mental deficiencies and drug addiction told you to… and he hates Obama. Is that good enough for you to believe?
Cut the crap, Porter. I’m tired of the “if you are against what Obama stands for you hate him and you are a racist.” Obama quite simply is inept as a President and his values and proposed direction for this country are diametrically opposed to mine. Have a nice day.
Hey Alex,
David Porter has a nice Government Job at APG. He has plenty time to post on our dollar! Sad situation….
Why do you want to know Ed? So you can stalk me at my workplace? Are you aware that you could get in trouble for that?
Are you collecting social security Ed or do you plan to? Seems to me you may be part of the community that feels entitled to their little slice of socialism. Too bad you have to share it with others.
Hey, Mr. David A. Paranoid. You should read once in a while. There was nothing in Ed’s post that asked about anything, so your response of “why do you want to know” was just useless drivel. He made a few statements. Were they factual? Apparently so, because you used the timeless liberal tactic of responding to facts with emotions and vitriol. I’m not sure what credibility you had when you got here, but for the year or so I have read your posts, you lose a little more credibility every time you click the “submit comment” button.
Alex… I hear nothing but hate and derision from you, just like the other locals around here that have had their tiny little lives impacted by people that believe differently form them. You were occupied territory during the civil war and some of you have not forgotten that.
Hasn’t Obama admitted smoking lots of pot?
He admitted to smoking pot, doing coke and Eating dogs. Its in his book before you all start boo hooing and name calling
Porter,
What department do you work in?
I’m sure his supervisor may be interested in his net surfing habits. But wait, he’s a guvmint employee.
If not for the cushy job at APG with 6 weeks of vacation – he may qualify for a job sweeping up after elephants at the circus.
I would guess he is occupying a job; supervising a guy, who supervises a guy, who supervises a guy who rakes the sand traps at Ruggles.
That has squat to do with it. Your buisness arguement is bunked by the fact that the buisnesses are not locating on the Eastern shore and Western MD where the bulk of the unemployed people are concentrated. Although it is trending down in Maryland. Anyway the state with the highest unemployment has a republican governor. NEVADA!
Hey CDEV,
You also forgot to mention the 4 states with the lowest unemployment rates have Republican governors; North Dakota, Nebraska, South Dakota and Oklahoma.
Also, for the bottom 5 states for unemployment, 2 are democrats, 2 are republicans and 1 is an independent.
Unemployment is not Republican or Democrat.
Anyways, have a nice day.
True it isn’t and that was my point in the begining. The person I replied to claimed that MD’s high unemployment is endemic of democrats. My point was that it is in fact not a result of either. The top 5 are 3 GOP 2 Dems it is a problem of each state individually.
I wonder how many people realize that the “tax breaks” that would be given to casinos only exist because the original tax rate on casino income was 67%. (I’m not missing a decimal point there; that’s SIXTY SEVEN percent.) And yet we wonder why finding applicants for casino licenses has been so difficult…
Of course, now that all the Casino licenses have been granted they are willing to cut the taxes. You are right that we would have had more competition for the few licenses that weren’t guaranteed to a specific person (and Cordish wasn’t supposed to be one of those people).
But you are absolutely right, the taxes on Casino profits are extremely high. The only reason they actually cut taxes on some of the companies though was to provide some sort of relief on the new expectation that those companies will have added competition after they already spent their funds, or because they will have to shoulder the costs of the machines that the State originally (and stupidly) said they would pay for.
Hasn’t been difficult at all. And the ones that bid knew in advance what the tax rate was and they have spent a lot of lobbying dollars to get the casino award. If they didn’t want it then they should have not bid. Or were they told in advance that the tax rate would be lowered just keep the campaign donations coming.
Isn’t the bottom line this? …. some Maryland elected officials are enriching themselves and their particular supporters by bringing and expanding gambling in the State of Maryland or by not expanding gambling in the State of Maryland? Any benefit to the State treasury is just the icing used to sell it.
Won’t any benefit to the State treasury be offset by increases needed for social services, welfare, and medicaid and law enforcement/security when some percentage of those who frequent the casinos become addicted to gambling?
Electing people who believe it is ok to get richer and more powerful off of other peoples’ misery is not good government.
In Maryland the Democrats currently have a monopoly on spending (which includes “passing out money” to the counties) the annual $34-35 billion that is the State budget. (FY 2012 $34.8/projected FY 2013 $35.8)
I would love to see the good government wings of both the Democrat and Republican parties in Maryland, gain sufficient power to verify how much of the $34-35 billion is enriching narrow groups of people at a huge cost to everyone else.
Do Democrats really like poor people? or are they using poor people like a commodity to enrich their unions, enrich their buddies who bring “development” to the city or casinos to the state, enrich their organizations who provide “services” to the poor, and enrich the businesses that save money and get around the Democrat’s excessive regulation of the work place by hiring illegal immigrants.
The “affordable” housing that Democrats paid ACORN hundreds of millions of dollars to promote to poor people included interest only and variable rate loans that are easier to default on and wreck your credit; not the stable fixed rate 30 yr and 15 yr mortgages that most middle class borrowers use.
The public schools that Democrats push onto poor people graduate only half of the kids in Chicago and in Baltimore only 66% of the kids who wanted to graduate in 2009 could pass 10th grade level tests in 12th grade. Even the most basic minimum standard for teachers and principals cannot be enforced due to pressure from the Democrat Party’s union leadership supporters. Children in public schools go through a kind of russian roulette education, where politized curriculum and holes in teacher effectiveness, greatly diminish the educational potential of many children, this even in spite of the almost herculean efforts of many central office staff, principals, teachers, parents, and students.
I’ve heard that at one point in the recent past 75% of African American males dropped out of school in Baltimore City. They compete with illegal immigrants for jobs in Maryland, 1 of the 4 states that allow illegal immigrants to obtain drivers licenses.
In Chicago, the first Walmart that finally opened in 2006 after several years of intense union opposition, received 15,850 applications for 450 jobs.
If poor people knew how much money is supposedly spent on their behalf and NEVER reaches them, I believe they wouldn’t vote for Democrats for a generation.
You are making the same point of my article. All the bad things associated with expanding gambling are the same problems that exist it Maryland government. But it’s not limited to Maryland and Democrats, it exists in any government where there is a monopoly or belief that they can’t lose. The only thing that keeps politicians honest is the fear of the next election.
And you can vote for or against gambling because it is another option for corruption or you can vote for or against it based on what I was saying in the bottom line of what is on the ballot and that is the addition of table games and a new site.
Mr Watcher missed Point 8:
Sen Miller and Gov O’Malley rammed this through during a special session, which are only supposed to be called in emergencies. The lack of a 6th gambling site was not an emergency, and should not have been the grounds for a special session. If the legislature wanted to vote on the issue, they could have waited until January.
While I want table games, reduced business taxes and expansion of gambling to any party that wants a license, I do not agree with hijacking the political process to accomplish any of those goals so I’ll vote against it.
Kharn,
Whether a special session should have been called or not is a moot point, it’s already happened. That is why you vote against the people that made the decision to call a special session for something that is not an emergency, but that is not what is on the ballot this November. You can feel free to “send a message” with your vote, but it has nothing to do with what you are actually voting on.
A no vote is a vote for the status quo, nullifying the special session.
It won’t nullify it. Nothing can get us back the hundreds of thousands in wasted dollars spent on the special session. It will repudiate it and embarrass the folks in Annapolis, always a worthwhile cause.
Yep! I’m right there with you.
Martin Watcher,
I’m voting no. Why? Because when the governor and the legislative leadership hijacks and abuses the special session process for something that was not an emergency except in their own minds then there needs to be consequences. The consequence for them is they get the door slammed in their face. Also, I believe that the companies that already got casino licenses were told in advance that the governor and the legislative leadership would lower their taxes later once all of the hoopla was over. This baby is going down in flames.
You are voting against lots of jobs for what reason exactly? If people want to gamble, let them gamble. I usually agree with you Alex, but I think you need to rethink this one. This is regulating free market trade by not allowing it to be built.
This is letting the politicians ram it down our throat because they can and using the shabbiest of reasons to do it. Don’t fall for the jobs baloney.
When the legislation guarantees that a certain specific amount of the revenue will go to an INCREASE in the existing school budget levels and the tax cuts for the casinos are taken out then talk to me again. Usually if O’Malley, Miller and Busch are for it I am against it and that rule of thumb is seldom off the mark.
I’m voting “No” too Alex. Not because I agree with you blindly but because I believe Casino Gambling has become someone’s idea of how they can extract more money from stupid people without having to be fiscally responsible. To take the analogy further… if you think this will help bring in tax dollars, legalize marijuana, and then tax it’s sale and distribution and place tax stamps on it like cigarettes.
If you are saying that our political leadership – and it doesn’t matter which party – will do anything to avoid being fiscally responsible and throttle back spending, then we are in total agreement. I’m afraid we haven’t seen the worst of it. It’s a slippery slope. And we are all being shoved in to doing the electric slide.
My wife works with a Doctor that constantly goes to Atlantic City/ Vegas and drops $50,000 like it is nothing. You aren’t going to prevent people from gambling by banning it here, you are going to send that money elsewhere. This is a project needed for construction jobs, especially if you are a member of the trade unions. The benches are full. If there wasn’t demand, it would not be built. I don’t like how the politicians operate either, but I am even more against them telling us that we can’t build a casino if we want, and that, I as an adult, can’t make the decision if that is a way I want to spend my money or not.
I’m all for legalizing marijuana as long as I can require my doctor to be drug tested. I don’t want a pot head performing brain surgery on me. I don’t care what you do in your own time, as long as I don’t have to deal with the consequences of it. Now the harder drugs, they just make you crazy and are dangerous.
Holy cow – I agree with some of what Mr. Porter wrote! So “no” it is – maybe we can at least agree on stopping the needless flow of cash to irresponsible politicians who don’t have a clue how to “cut” anything but the taxpayer’s net income!!
This is exactly what we went through when they wanted to bring the lottery into Maryland in 1972. I’m sure most of you aren’t old enough to remember that!
I’m voting no to question 7 and my reason is the same as Jerry on an episode of Seinfeld said when he went to return a jacket, for spite.
I am voting yes, and I don’t gamble.
I wonder why this spite vote wasn’t there with the original slots bill, especially since it was O’Malley co-opting the issue from Ehrlich. And the original slots bill was the one with all the screw ups in it.
very interesting subject, maybe you could give me some advice on creating my own blog i have been putting it off for to long
After I initially commented I seem to have clicked on the -Notify me when new comments are added- checkbox and from now on
whenever a comment is added I receive 4 emails
with the same comment. There has to be an easy method
you are able to remove me from that service? Kudos!