Slot Passage

R

rraley

New Member
As some of you may have heard, a new slots bill has passed the House Ways and Means Committee, which overwhelmingly turned down any slots legislation the past two years. The vote was 13-5, but there are some major differences between the House approved bill and the Senate approved bill.

Anyways, I start this to see what you all think about slots...I suppose that most of you, as Ehrlich backers, are for them.
 
Larry Gude

Larry Gude

Strung Out
Vhat evah der Fuhrer sezz...

...izzz vaht vee dooz.

I suppose that most of you, as Ehrlich backers, are for them.
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Slots as revenue for the state are stupid. The state run lottery is stupid. We are not in Las Vegas. Heavily taxed gambling money is political cowardess at it's finest (worst). If there is no political will to raise taxes in a fair manner then the political urge to spend more money should be suppressed. Simple as that. There is no fair reason to tax gambling any higher than anything else.

Having said that, Governor Ehrlich (my, that has a nice ring to it) Republican Governor Ehrlich, I'm sorry, MARYLAND REPUBLICAN GOVERNOR Ehrlich ran openly and strongly on slots coming to Maryland and WON.

Busch and Miller, being the Democrats most responsible for blocking a Republican governor and trying to make hime look bad, have been horses ass about this as much as possble.

Election day looms and, viola, they're trying to have it both ways by cramming the governors wishes full of crap. I hope if it is unacceptable, that Maryland Republican Governor Ehrlich vetos the damn thing, raises hell about it and makes them jerks face the electorate.

Then, we can get MORE Republicans in Annapolis.

Bottom line is that slots at race tracks (where people GAMBLE) is fine. Slots at OTB parlours, where people GAMBLE, is fine. Slots in bars should be fine.

The reality is the money is going to Pennsylvania and West Va anyway.

What do you think?
 
vraiblonde

vraiblonde

Board Mommy
PREMO Member
Patron
Ehrlich has nothing to do with why I'm in favor of slots - it just makes sense. Who gives a crap if people gamble away their life savings? That's their problem.

In fact, I think Maryland should go for it and open a few full-fledged casinos as well. It promotes tourism, creates jobs and pumps a little revenue into the state coffers.

The only thing I'd be wary of is that, instead of using that money to pay down debt, the powers-that-be will just funnel it into more welfare programs and crap like that.
 
2ndAmendment

2ndAmendment

Just a forgiven sinner
PREMO Member
I can tell you from history that if the revenue from slots is used properly, our taxes should go down. I used to play the slots here in Maryland. Waldorf was called little Lad Vegas. People from New York, New Jersey, and other places used to travel here to play the slots. Waldorf had real entertainment, Las Vegas acts, I even think Sinatra played the Stardust. I know Kenny Rogers did and lots of other big names.

When the slots were outlawed, Waldorf became a ghost town for years. Some years ago I found the property tax bills for my parent's property in St. Mary's county. I just thumbed through them because they were so much less than what I was paying on the same property. Yeah, the value went up, but there was one year in the 60s I think that the property tax went up, as I remember it, 5 times the previous year. It may have been three, but it was a big jump. It was the year after the slots were outlawed.

The slots are fine, if the money is used to reduce taxes instead of increase welfare.
 
Ken King

Ken King

A little rusty but not crusty
PREMO Member
Isn't the plan to throw all revenue from slots into the education system?
 
R

rraley

New Member
Ken King said:
Isn't the plan to throw all revenue from slots into the education system?
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I'm not sure that providing added funding for school funding is really "throwing it away" as it seems that you suggest, but the plan is for about 52% of the revenue from slot machines to go towards school construction and other education expenses. Some contend that the plan could increase education funding $700 million over the years.

To Larry, I am sorry if you took my statement that most of you would support slots because most of you are Ehrlich backers...I was merely making a broad generalization (like some would say that I support more welfare because I'm a Democrat, etc.). I was just stating the obvious...most Ehrlich backers are slots proponents, while most Ehrlich opponents also oppose slots.

As for my position on slots, I do not believe that allowing slots will increase our state revenues wildly as Governor Ehrlich has said. I don't think that our budgets should be tied to "projected" slot revenue or one-time fees paid to acquire licenses for the slots (too many variables there for comfort). And I do not like how Ehrlich has pushed this slots legislation by saying that we cannot fund the Thornton Plan without it (it's an empty generalization and it shamelessly plays with the future of young people in education, in my opinion). That being said, I do not have a problem with slots...and I believe that they will greatly help our horse racing industry, which has a status in Maryland history that should be protected. For that reason, I support having slots avaliable at horse tracks across the state so long as the leaders of those counties support that (PG County has fervently said no to slots, so I support the House bill excluding slots from that region). A compromise bill between the House and Senate that excluded slots in PG, excluded slots at non-race track sites, sent some of the revenue to education, and includes fees for the licenses (rather than a bidding process like what the house bill advocates) would be very favorable to me.

Also, Larry, do you know what would be the greatest? Maryland Democratic Governor Martin O'Malley.
 
SamSpade

SamSpade

Well-Known Member
PREMO Member
rraley said:
Anyways, I start this to see what you all think about slots...I suppose that most of you, as Ehrlich backers, are for them.
Click to expand...
I actually didn't know Ehrlich was for them - typical Republican response for something like this is the religious response - no way, Jose.

But I'm for them for a different reason. They're already in neighboring states, and their biggest customers - are *Marylanders*. So we're already using them, we're just giving OTHER states the money. It just makes sense to put them here, so we can keep our own money here.
 
R

rraley

New Member
SamSpade said:
I actually didn't know Ehrlich was for them - typical Republican response for something like this is the religious response - no way, Jose.
Click to expand...

This response makes me question the whole "Ehrlich has a mandate to do this" argument. I think that his 2006 victory was based on the fact that there was a "culture of corruption" in Annapolis, thirty-six years of Democratic domination, and a terrible candidate named Kathleen Kennedy Townsend.

So much of electoral victories is semantics and not actual substance.
 
Ken King

Ken King

A little rusty but not crusty
PREMO Member
Rraley,

Where did I say or imply it was being thrown away? Though looking at many that come out with a diploma these days does have me scratching my head as to the return for the fiscal effort that is already being made. For your clarification, the manner in which I used the term was equivalent to "directing".
 
R

rraley

New Member
Ken King said:
Rraley,

Where did I say or imply it was being thrown away? Though looking at many that come out with a diploma these days does have me scratching my head as to the return for the fiscal effort that is already being made. For your clarification, the manner in which I used the term was equivalent to "directing".
Click to expand...

Thank you sir for the clarification.
 
willie

willie

Well-Known Member
I am an Irish Catholic and the examples I've seen so far are embarrassments. It bewilders me why a group of immigrants like the Irish that had to battle their way up from the slums would ever consider giving anyone a free ride.
 
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