Tell friends and neighbors why it’s important to vote yes to slots

After years of debate and turmoil over slots, the Maryland state legislature got right down to it while meeting in a special session that began on October 29.
Maryland lawmakers approved a detailed slots plan that gives the racing industry what it proposed. But there’s a catch. Nothing will happen unless voters give the go-ahead in a November 2008 referendum.

On November 18 (as this magazine was about to go to press) the Senate gave final approval to a bill that allows up to 15,000 slot machines at five locations throughout the state, and directs 7 percent of the revenue from all locations to the racing industry.

When slots are fully up and running, they could generate a projected $91 million annually for racing—an amount to be divided on an 80/20 percentage basis between the Thoroughbred and Standardbred industries. The Thoroughbred portion will be shared by the purse account (85 percent) and Maryland-bred Fund (15 percent).
That’s the plan. And it’s a vision to keep in mind as you tell every single registered Maryland voter who crosses your path why it’s important to vote yes to slots.
It’s no exaggeration to say that Maryland racing will be in the fight of its life over the coming months. But Maryland’s anti-slots leader had it wrong when he told the Baltimore Sun that his constituency has an advantage because “there is no grass-roots slots lobby, and there never has been.”

Slots to bolster the Maryland racing industry is about grass roots—literally as well as figuratively.

A healthy purse account and breeders’ fund will preserve farms in the state. They will maintain jobs for workers who make up the grass roots of society: truck drivers and store clerks, restaurant servers, even hotel employees (who provide accommodations for horsemen staying over for auction sales and races) and many more. And then there are all of us “grass roots” folks who make our livelihood directly from racing.

The legislature has turned the slots issue over to the people to decide; it is no longer up to politicos and hired lobbyists. That, in its own way, is empowering because by spreading the word every single one of us can make a difference.