Maryland Senator Urges Poker Legislation
Written by Matt W | Friday, March 19th, 2010
In a bid to bolster the tourism industry in Maryland and bring in more revenue, a Baltimore senator is on a crusade to introduce poker and other table games to the state. Senator Catherine Pugh urged a Senate panel to make significant changes to the state constitution that will allow games such as poker, craps and roulette to be incorporated into casinos in the state.
“If we’re talking about Maryland being the tourism state, if we’re trying to attract different conventions and conferences where people are now traveling to other parts of the country to get that kind of entertainment, seems to me we’d want to do that in the state of Maryland,” said Pugh to the Senate Panel on Tuesday.
Politicians such as Pugh have correctly identified the problem of states becoming non-poker islands among states that have already approved table games. The senator recognizes that Maryland could be losing millions each year to neighboring states such as Delaware, Pennsylvania and West Virginia – all of which have approved poker in recent months.
Senator Pugh’s suggestion essentially provides gambling operator license holders to expand their services from the current slots-only game format to include table games as well. Two years ago, the state made amendments to its constitution, approving the introduction of 15,000 slot machines at five different locations around the state.
Naturally, there is strong opposition to the senator’s proposal, and a spokesman for the Governor of Maryland commented that the “governor has no interest in expanding gambling”.
A group called Stop Slots Maryland also made a statement regarding the senator’s proposal and said: “None of this is unforeseen. The thing about table games is it really does not reflect the will of the voters. Slots poll better than casinos and this is why so often you see an effort to get slot machines followed by the inevitable expansion of gambling.”
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· Written by Matt W · Filed Under Poker Gossip · Comments Off
