Faith in Action

Winston Churchill once said, “Those who do not study history are bound to repeat it.”

In 1960 civic organizations in Anne Arundel County and Charles County began to fight to remove slot machines from their jurisdictions. The battle was joined in 1962 by a Grand Jury from Anne Arundel County, which found “extensive corruption, illegal use of the machines by minors, and increased crime.”

In 2007, we should have learned from the mistakes of Maryland citizens during the 1960’s. We’ve had slot machines in Maryland and it has been proven that slot machines will be detrimental to our livelihood. When slot machines were in Charles County the Department of Defense requested that slot machines be removed from the borders of its naval base because sailors were repeatedly losing their salaries to these machines before returning home to their families. Those were the old style mechanical slot machines.

A recent report studying the new style video terminals in Canada showed that 25% of Canadian slot players were either at risk, or problem gamblers. This study confirms the much-reported notion that current video slot machines are designed to be the crack cocaine of gambling.

A study prepared for the Maryland General Assembly in 2004 indicated that employment from slot parlors for the residents of Prince George’s County would create about 3,800 jobs. That same report showed that slot machines would generate about $1.3 billion. Those 3,800 jobs would pay about $12,490 a year. $1.3 billion vs. $12,490. Slot machines are obviously not a measure to sustain a family’s livelihood in Prince George’s County.

Current legislation will not bring slot machines to Prince George’s County. Perhaps the Maryland General Assembly will protect Prince George’s County from having slot machines. However, I might suggest that if slot parlors are not good for Prince George’s County it’s not good for any part of Maryland. Secondly, we were told many years ago, that if we were to allow a state lottery system in Maryland the proceeds would go towards the state’s education system. The lottery came, and a new legislative body decided to redirect that money to the stadium authority and the general fund.

My point is that the current body of the General Assembly may indeed protect Prince George’s County from slot parlors but there are no guarantees that future legislators will abide by this agreement, particularly when studies have shown that Rosecroft Raceway has one of the highest gaming age populations in the state of Maryland.

If slots are legalized in Maryland, Prince George’s County will eventually be a part of the slots crime statistics. There have been many debates about bringing slot machines to destination locations in an effort to increase the state’s profit margins. It’s a pretty good guess that no one from California is going to vacation at Rosecroft.  The final destination for the Rosecroft slot machine gambler will be that person who lives in the neighborhood; owes $800.00 in rent; only has $400.00 in their pocket; drives a short ten minutes to the slot machine parlor, and loses all $400.00. Sounds like the Navy’s argument all over again.

Someone once said that, “Smart people learn from their mistakes, wise people learn from the mistakes of others”. What have Maryland legislators learned from our past, and who will be the winners if Maryland’s future includes slots?

Marvin E. Holmes, Jr., State Delegate
Legislative District 23-B
Delegate.M.Holmes@house.state.md.us
 Deputy Majority Whip
Chair, Natural Resources Subcommittee
2nd Vice Chair, Prince George’s CountyDelegation