By: Nicholas Sohr

Gov. Martin O’Malley said Thursday he does not want to revisit the state’s slot machine law this legislative session.

The governor’s comments followed the news that Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller Jr. will push for an expansion of the state’s fledgling slots industry to include a gaming license for a site in Prince George’s County.

“This is the first I’ve heard of it. I have a tremendous amount of respect for Sen. Miller and I look forward to hearing more from him about this,” O’Malley said.

The governor then added: “I wasn’t interested in this session in doing anything other than focusing on job creation and protecting jobs and fighting the foreclosure waves and the other things that are hurting our middle class. I was looking forward to moving forward this session on the things we can to do to create jobs. I wasn’t interested at looking back at issues that have already been extensively debated.”

Maryland’s voters legalized gaming in 2008 in a ballot referendum with the stipulation that any changes to state gaming be done by the same process. Five locations were authorized in the state. The closest to the Washington, D.C., suburbs is Anne Arundel County.

“The reason why there was no location in Prince George’s before was because of the insistence of the Prince George’s delegation that there be no location in Prince George’s,” O’Malley said.

The governor did, however, say the bill should get a hearing if introduced.

Maryland’s slots industry has sputtered since slot machines were legalized. A state commission is expected to seek new developers to build a casino in Baltimore City after the original winning bidders were disqualified last month for not submitting updated plans and the license fee.

The Anne Arundel County gaming facility, expected to be the largest in the state with 4,750 machines, gained county approval in December after months of delays. Cordish Cos., a Baltimore-based developer, is moving forward with plans to build the more than 200,000-square-foot slots parlor in the parking lot of the Arundel Mills shopping mall.

State gaming officials are awaiting word on when the casino at the Ocean Downs racetrack in Worcester County will open following construction delays, and work is progressing on another in Cecil County. The state commission still has not received bids for the gaming license near Rocky Gap.