By: Nicholas Sohr

The broad coalition that is working to thwart plans to build a casino at the Arundel Mills shopping mall appears to have a strong base of support in Anne Arundel County — but then again, so do its opponents.

The Maryland Jockey Club and community groups have collected more than enough signatures to put a referendum on the ballot in November to allow county voters to decide whether to allow Baltimore-based developer Cordish Cos. to build the state’s largest slots parlor next to the mall.

Anne Arundel Community College released the results of a survey Friday that shows county residents of voting age are split on the potential referendum.

Of course, the whole thing could become moot in any number of ways. At least two lawsuits have been filed in connection to the petition drive. The Jockey Club, according to reports, has spent nearly $400,000 to collect the signatures. Read our most recent story here.

But the most interesting – at least to me – potential complication is the fact that Cordish is one of the bidders seeking to buy the parent company of the Jockey Club and bring the state’s biggest horse-racing tracks out of bankruptcy. One would imagine Cordish, as owner of the club, wouldn’t look too kindly on lawsuits it filed against his $320 million casino project.

The survey also asked county residents about the opinion Attorney General Doug Gansler recently issued on out-of-state, same-sex marriages. Nearly half of those surveyed, 48 percent, agreed with his stance that the state should recognize legal same-sex marriages performed in other jurisdictions, while 44 percent disagreed. Del. Don Dwyer, R-Anne Arundel, has said he will try to impeach Gansler on March 31 for issuing the opinion.

The survey covered 640 county residents over the age of 18 and has a 4 percent margin of error, according to the college.