Penn National Gaming Inc. intends to install at least 3,000 slot machines at Rosecroft Raceway if it wins the right to operate a casino in Prince George’s County, even though the company paid an initial licensing fee to the state that only covers 500 slots.

State law requires companies bidding on casino licenses to submit an initial license fee of $3 million per every 500 proposed slot machines. Penn National’s $3 million fee was dwarfed by MGM Resorts International Inc. ($21.6 million for 3,600 slots) and Greenwood Racing Inc. ($28.5 million for 4,750 slots).

A Penn National spokeswoman said Monday the company only provided a licensing fee for 500 machines because it felt unsure the full fee would be refunded if the company was not awarded the license for the Prince George’s casino.

Karen Bailey, the spokeswoman, said Penn National did the same thing when it bid to operate what is now Hollywood Casino Perryville in Cecil County. If Penn National is awarded the casino license, Bailey said the company would pay the remaining license fee.

Companies are able to revise their proposals as the state Video Lottery Facility Location Commission reviews bids, but are not guaranteed the ability to increase the number of slot machines from their original proposal.

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The Pennsylvania gambling company that spent more than $40 million to prevent a massive gambling expansion in Maryland plans to bid on the Prince George’s County casino license that was part of that expansion.

In a federal filing last week, Penn National Gaming Inc. indicated it would turn in a bid this week — but didn’t sound optimistic about its chances.

“Though we intend to participate in the bidding process, we believe another operator could be selected,” Penn National said in its quarterly report to the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Penn National has previously said it would like to build a casino at Rosecroft Raceway, a horse racing track it owns in Fort Washington.

MGM Resorts International Inc. made plans last summer to bid on the license, too, offering to build a resort casino at National Harbor in Oxon Hill. MGM — favored by Prince George’s County Executive Rushern L. Baker III and other powerful elected officials — is widely expected to win the license.

Despite the SEC filing Friday, a Penn National spokeswoman declined to discuss the company’s expected bid, saying that no information on the decision would be available until the May 10 application deadline.

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A casino in Rocky Gap State Park is still a few weeks away from opening, but the new owners of what was once a state-owned vacation and conference center have already unveiled the resort’s new digital presence.

Gone is the website for Rocky Gap Lodge & Golf Resort, a failed, debt-ridden project of the Maryland Economic Development Corp. In its place is Rocky Gap Casino Resort, whose owners will try to turn the remote property into a popular 24/7 gambling operation.

The small casino — with 550 slot machines and 10 table games — replaces old conference space in the resort. Casino General Manager Scott Just said last week that new conference space should open in November.

The new website is just one sign that Evitts Resort LLC, the casino operator, is readying for an expected May 22 opening. An open house is being held at the resort on Saturday, where gamblers can sign up for the casino’s loyalty program and see the new hotel lobby.

(Photo: RockyGapResort.com)

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Gov. Martin O’Malley strolled up to a press conference just before Election Day singing a song that had become a ubiquitous advertisement on Pandora Internet radio.

“Maryland cash, bring it back,” O’Malley sang, urging Maryland voters to support Question 7 — the expanded gambling measure that Maryland’s casinos are now enjoying.

Question 7 was approved by voters in November. On Wednesday, the Baltimore public relations firm that dreamed up “Maryland Cash” announced that it had received two first place awards for the song, which was also viewed more than 300,000 times on YouTube.

The team — composed of Kearney O’Doherty Public Affairs LLC, Tim Maloney of Joseph Greenwald & Laake P.A., guitarist and singer Dillon O’Brian and others — won two Pollie Awards for “best use of Pandora” from the American Association of Political Consultants.

O’Brian — the guitar-playing singer who performed “Maryland Cash” while strolling Baltimore’s Inner Harbor in the song’s music video — is the uncle of Damian O’Doherty, principal and co-founder of KO Public Affairs. O’Brian, whose real name is Brian O’Doherty, wrote the theme songs for television shows “The Office” and “My Name is Earl.”

“Damian and some of his friends had the idea of having a song and video, he called me, and I thought ‘this is a great idea,’” O’Brian said in an October interview. “I’m always trying to have those kinds of conversations with people, thinking out of the box in thinking how to use music.”

O’Brian said at the time that he’d like to do more political songwriting, too.

“I think it’s a lot of fun and I would like to get more involved,” he said. “I think its such an interesting way to approach things.”

The song said that out of state casinos — particularly Hollywood Casino at Charles Town Races in West Virginia — were benefiting from Maryland gamblers traveling across state lines to play blackjack and the like.

Maryland Live Casino at Arundel Mills mall, the state’s largest commercial gambling site, began operating table games this month, and was the mid-Atlantic’s highest-grossing casino in March, generating more than $44 million.

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When lottery retailers complained, Gov. Martin O'Malley put a halt to the Lottery Agency's plan to create iLottery. (File Photo)

House and Senate versions of Gov. Martin O’Malley’s operating budget proposal attack the future of Internet lottery sales in different ways, potentially setting up a mini-showdown over the fate of iLottery.

While the difference in legislative language does not appear to be so significant that it could put a budget deal between the two chambers in jeopardy, the Senate has made clear that it wants the Maryland State Lottery and Gaming Control Agency to put a permanent halt to creation of a website were Marylanders could buy and play traditional lottery games.

While both the House of Delegates and the Senate eliminated nearly $400,000 budgeted for development of such a website in fiscal year 2014, the House retained language that would allow the Lottery to develop a system of online gambling provided it sought the counsel of retailers and held a public meeting.

The Senate, however, struck that language during its budget decisions.

Senate Bill 272, passed by the Senate 46-0 last month, would take away the Lottery’s authority to develop and implement iLottery. The bill was drafted after retailers complained to O’Malley and members of the Budget and Taxation Committee that allowing Internet sales of lottery games, such as scratch-offs, would be detrimental to their business.

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The first games of black jack, poker and roulette will be played at Hollywood Casino Perryville on Wednesday.

The casino in Perryville is Maryland’s first commercial gambling site to offer such games, just under two-and-a-half years after it became the first commercial slots parlor in the state.

The final regulatory hurdle was overcome Wednesday when Maryland State Lottery and Gaming Control Agency Director Stephen L. Martino signed the operations license that authorizes the games. A General Assembly committee last week approved game regulations that the Lottery submitted in January.

“We believe the casino is prepared to open table games to the public,” Martino said in a statement. Controls, policies and staff were tested Tuesday night.

Hollywood is the first Maryland casino to offer table games to gamblers, even though its parent company, Penn National Gaming Inc., spent more than $40 million last year trying to convince Marylanders to vote against expanding gambling in the state. Legislation approved by state lawmakers in August authorized a referendum on table games, but also allowed voters to decide whether a casino should be built in Prince George’s County.

Penn’s opposition was based entirely on that new casino, which the company felt it wouldn’t have a fair chance to bid on. Absent the rights to that facility, Penn feared business at another property — Hollywood Casino at Charles Town Races in West Virginia — would suffer.

Penn may still bid on the Prince George’s license, but a facility in the southern part of that county is unlikely to open before 2016. In the meantime, Hollywood Casino Perryville has a head-start on attracting black jack and poker players. Maryland Live Casino at Arundel Mills mall won’t start operating the games until next month.

“We are very excited to be competitive in the market, and have all the offerings of a full casino,” Jennifer Miglionico, the casino’s director of marketing, said in a statement. “With the addition of table games we are now the whole package with the newest, hottest slots, our wonderful Celebrity Bar & Grill restaurant and free live entertainment every weekend.”

The casino, just off Interstate 95 in Cecil County, will have 12 tables on its main gambling floor — including poker, black jack, roulette and craps — and will have eight more poker tables in a separate poker room. Casino executives say they hired more than 100 people to run the games and oversee 24-hour operations at the casino on weekends, which began in December.

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The Senate quietly passed legislation this week that would prevent what some have called an enormous electronic expansion of gambling, but the bill seems unlikely to move much further along the the legislative process.

The resounding, 46-0 vote to approve Senate Bill 272 came on Monday night, after the Budget and Taxation Committee amended the bill to remove its “emergency” tag and simplify some language. The bill would make it illegal for the Maryland State Lottery and Gaming Control Agency to sell lottery tickets online.

The bill, cosponsored by half of the Senate’s budget panel, was drafted in response to a plan unveiled by the state’s gambling regulators last fall that would have created an Amazon.com-like online marketplace of lottery games that could be purchased and played from any device with an Internet connection.

Brick-and-mortar retailers immediately opposed the bill, saying it would hurt their business. Gov. Martin O’Malley subsequently ordered the Lottery to stop its work on the Internet project.

The Senate bill seeks to prevent the agency from taking the issue up again. Lawmakers say the Lottery has too much power, and should not be able to launch the “iLottery” program unless the General Assembly allows.

The bill has been assigned to the House of Delegates’ Ways and Means Committee, but powerful members of the panel don’t appear interested in stripping the Lottery of any regulatory authority. A hearing has not been scheduled.

Eighteen other states already have some form of Internet lottery, are in the process of implementing one or are considering one. On Tuesday, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie signed legislation that legalized online gambling.

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The Eye on Annapolis Podcast is back with a look at Senate President Mike Miller’s transportation bill and what to expect as both chambers begin examining Gov. Martin O’Malley’s proposed budget.

Alex and I also discuss why some gun owners are up in an arms because of an email from O’Malley, as well as one surprising loser in the state’s gambling expansion.

Enjoy.

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This may be the last time you read about casino gambling on this blog for a while.

State lawmakers seem convinced that the issue can be put aside in the General Assembly session that begins Wednesday.

Del. Samuel I. “Sandy” Rosenberg, a Baltimore Democrat who is vice chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, which dealt with the gambling expansion bill last year, said this session would bring a welcome reprieve for the casino-weary.

“We will have slots bills, but I cannot imagine anything of great significance coming to the floor,” Rosenberg told a group of nonprofit leaders at a session preview on Monday. “We have been there, done that.”

Senate Minority Leader E.J. Pipkin, a Republican who represents the Upper Shore, laughed when asked Tuesday if he thought there would be any casino bills introduced in the Senate.

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The Wyomissing, Pa.-based gambling company that spent $44 million in its campaign to defeat Question 7, may bid on the license for a casino authorized by voters’ approval of Question 7.

“It is under consideration,” said Karen Bailey, a spokeswoman for Penn National Gaming Inc. The Washington Post first reported the possibility Friday.

Despite its record spending to defeat the expanded gambling law passed by the General Assembly, signed by Gov. Martin O’Malley and sent to referendum, most have expected Penn to enter the bidding for the casino license awarded to Prince George’s County.

The legislation that authorized the voter referendum on table games, a sixth casino and 24/7 operation of those facilities, was written so a casino could be built either at Penn-owned Rosecroft Raceway or National Harbor. Penn says adding slots and table games to the dilapidated racetrack is vital to its success.

But Prince George’s County Executive Rushern L. Baker III and other powerful elected officials favor National Harbor as the casino’s location. That favoritism led Penn to believe it wouldn’t have a fair shot when it came time to bid on the casino license.

MGM Resorts International Inc. is the prohibitive favorite to build an $800 million casino at National Harbor, the Peterson Cos.’ luxury mixed-used development on the shores of the Potomac River.

The Video Lottery Facility Location Commission will evaluate bids and select a licensee next year.

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