At a time when many states in the US are contemplating allowing sports betting, Maryland seems to be facing an additional problem. Maryland legislature is seeking to persuade the citizens to vote themselves out of gambling plans. This way, there will be no need for statewide referendums on future gambling proposals.
It is not clear why the Maryland legislature would want the voters to remove themselves from the decision making process they put themselves in. In 2008, the citizens of Maryland voted in a new gambling legislative package while also passed a constitutional amendment that requires any future gambling proposals to be put under the voter referendum.
The Maryland State Senate voted in favor of a constitutional amendment that would require the voters to vote themselves out of future gambling expansion proposals. As per one detailed article that currently appears in at the CalvinAyre.com, the proposal initially tabled on Tuesday, received a 46-1 win.
Next, it will head to the state House of Representatives for further discussion. Well, some experts agree this is good progress, owing to the fact that the matter is now becoming official. What is not clear is why the voters, according to some sources, are being asked to give up their power to reject any future gambling expansion in the state. In other words, it seems there could be some fishy dealings.
The anti-referendum constitutional amendment comes at a time when Maryland is contemplating legalizing sports betting. They are under pressure by several gaming operators, with the highest amount of pressure coming from Daniel Synder, the owner of Washington Redskins. Synder is planning to build a new stadium on the sit of the current stadium.
He wants to include sports betting at the new stadium and has even threatened to move the Washington Redskins from its current home at FedEx in Landover unless he gets the go-ahead to host sports betting.
The six casinos in the state of Maryland are also not hiding their desire to operate sports betting in their gaming venues. However, they are less enthusiastic about sharing betting rights with the racetracks as well as the off-track betting venues.
In other news, the figures for the month of January have been released. Maryland casinos earned a cumulative total of $145.5 million, a 6.2% increase from the same period last year, but $3.6 million below the earnings in December.
The highest earner was MGM’s National Harbor with $58.5 million while Live! Casino & Hotel came in at second position with $51.75 million, up 11.8%. Live! Casino and Hotel have been holding the position for some time now.
Horseshoe Casino, operated by Caesars Entertainment was ranked third with $19.3 million, a 4.4% decline year on year. The horseshoe was the only gaming venue to record losses in the month of January.
Hollywood Casino Perryville recorded the highest rise of 12.1% to earn $6.1 million. Ocean Downs went up by 11% to $5.35 million, while Rocky Gap earned $4.44 million, a 10.5% increment.
