Getting Penn National in the game could be good for Maryland.

Like a horse race, the slots referendum to take place in Maryland on November 4 has various interests jockeying for position. And a longshot has emerged from the pack.
Penn National Gaming Inc., which operates successful racinos in Pennsylvania and West Virginia – Hollywood Casino at Penn National Race Course and Charles Town Races & Slots – might have spent some of its considerable resources attempting to squelch Maryland’s slots effort.

Instead, Penn National appears poised to become a major player when and if slots are approved by voters in the statewide election.

Penn National has reportedly secured an option to buy 36 acres for a potential slots site on the heavily travelled I-95 corridor in Cecil County.

The Penn National slots emporium would be part of a 150-acre tourism complex under development by Stewart Associates, a major property owner in the area.

Penn National’s CEO, Peter Carlino, has declared the company’s intention to “support Maryland’s slot machine referendum both financially and by educating voters on the potential economic benefits of new development in the state.”

This is good news indeed for Maryland’s beleaguered racing industry, which will receive 7 percent of the revenue from each slots location.

On November 4, state voters will have the opportunity to vote for or against the slots program that was created in last year’s special session of the Maryland General Assembly. The program allows as many as 15,000 slot machines at five locations?–?in Allegany, Anne Arundel, Cecil and Worcester Counties and Baltimore City.

Only two race tracks, Laurel Park and Ocean Downs (a summertime harness facility on the Eastern Shore), are eligible to become slots sites.
Obviously, the future of Maryland racing will hinge, to a large extent, on the amount of business generated at off-track sites. Penn National’s expertise in the gaming business could turn out to be a most welcome asset.