The group attempting to block developer David Cordish’s casino near Arundel Mills  is getting closer to its goal.

Last week the coalition of petitioners, made up of anti-slots community and civic groups and the Maryland Jockey Club, filed 16,702 additional signatures with the Anne Arundel County Board of Elections. The signatures are in support of a referendum to allow county citizens to vote on whether to permit zoning for the slots casino.

So far, the board has validated 13,136 signatures from 23,702 filed last month; 18,790 signatures are needed to place the zoning ordinance on the November ballot.

The Maryland Jockey Club is bankrolling most of this operation, and at last count, has paid $377,000 to the firm it hired to collect the signatures. Just a little coincidence here — the jockey club filed the additional signatures on the anniversary of the day its parent company declared bankruptcy. I wonder if Magna Entertainment Corp. sent them a card …

After the first set of signatures was filed, Cordish did a little filing of his own with a lawsuit that claims the signatures are not valid because they were collected in a fraudulent manner. Rob Annicelli, president of Stop Slots at Arundel Mills is not fazed.

“Neither two blizzards nor a baseless lawsuit by a casino developer could stop the extraordinary will and tireless efforts of county residents to place the slots zoning ordinance on the ballot,” he said in a statement. “Filing the baseless lawsuit is just another example of the kind of intimidating and bullying tactics that certain advocates of the zoning ordinance have employed. The people of Anne Arundel County really resent those kinds of intentionally intimidating and threatening tactics.”

Powered by Bookmarkify™

I came across a bill introduced last week in the House of Delegates that proposes exempting fantasy sports from Maryland sports gambling prohibitions. Click here to read the two-page bill.

The legislation is sponsored by Del. John A. Olszewski, D-Baltimore, and co-sponsored by three others.

For a little context, the bill would not violate the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006, which exempts fantasy sports. More recently, New Jersey lawmakers are proposing legalizing Internet gambling and in Congress, Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., is pushing legalization of online gambling.

No hearing has been scheduled yet but it’s an interesting proposal. I mean, let’s be honest … if you play or have ever played fantasy sports, chances are you have played for money at some point. To me, it kind of seems like one of those bills where so many people are doing it anyway and it doesn’t seem to be hurting anyone, let’s just make it officially legal instead of looking the other way. After all, I don’t really think the fact that awarding prize money to the winner of a fantasy league isn’t legal in Maryland, is really stopping anyone. Please, someone — correct me if I’m wrong on that.

Powered by Bookmarkify™

When I told my friends about the story I was writing for today’s paper on Delaware’s sports betting they all asked me the same thing. So why the heck are the pro leagues against this?

It’s a good question and it’s one I have a hard time answering.  Here is the gist of the leagues’ argument against why Vegas-style betting on sports should not be expanded to Delaware:

“Sports betting lotteries involving single-game betting threaten the integrity of professional and amateur sports and are fundamentally at odds with the principle — essential to the success of the MLB, the NBA, the NCAA, the NFL and the NHL — that the outcomes of professional and collegiate athletic contests must be perceived by the public as being determined solely on the basis of honest athletic competition.”

Also, “The implementation of a full sports betting scheme in Delaware would irreparably harm professional and amateur sports by fostering suspicion and skepticism that individual plays and final scores of games may have been influenced by factors other than honest athletic competition.”

Click here for the full complaint.

Here are a couple of popular arguments against that statement.

1) NFL injury reports: why in the world should teams be required to submit injury reports Tuesdays and Thursdays if people weren’t watching the point spread? Sure, the reports also help for fantasy sports — which also turns into a form of gambling when players contribute money into a winner’s pot — but injury reports have been around much longer than fantasy sports. Read the rest of this entry »

Powered by Bookmarkify™

As if Maryland’s quest for slot machines wasn’t facing enough setbacks, Delaware is pouring salt on the open wound by trying to expand its legalized gambling options to include sports betting.

A Delaware house committee narrowly approved a bill Tuesday evening that would allow sports gambling at the state’s three casinos. Despite disagreement between between the governor and the gambling industry to parts of the proposed legislation, the bill’s sponsor told the Associated Press this week he is willing to delay the floor vote so both sides can resolve their differences.

Administration officials estimate the gambling proposal could generate $55 million in additional revenue for Delaware in its first year.

Meanwhile Maryland’s slot machines, meant to breathe life back into the state’s horse racing industry — which has been losing gambling business to other states like Delaware that have already legalized slots — have faced one blow after another this year. From the disqualification of the only bid that would put slots at a racetrack to the threat of losing the Preakness Stakes, it has not been a banner year for one of Maryland’s greatest traditions.

My guess is, at this rate, Maryland still won’t have slots next year while Delaware will be introducing sports gambling parlors in their casinos. Great — something else for Annapolis to play catch up on and something else for racing officials to point to and say, “Look, see this is why we’re not getting the revenues we should be.”

Maybe gambling isn’t the answer to saving the racing industry here after all — maybe the problem goes a lot deeper like oh, I don’t know, the people who were running the tracks? Was passing slots a needless waste of time?

Powered by Bookmarkify™

An NFL ban on liquor and lottery sponsorships may be lifted for next season if the recession continues to scare away advertisers, the Sports Business Journal reported this week.

The proposal was approved by the league’s business ventures committee this month and is expected to be on the agenda for the owners meeting starting Sunday in Dana Point, Calif. The NBA also recently lifted liquor regulations, allowing for teams to market products at retail, in ads and on arena signs.

“If the NFL allows co-branded spirits marketing, it is expected to take the same course as other leagues and not allow direct designations, like the ‘official Scotch whisky [sic] of the Green Bay Packers,’ along with requiring a heavy social responsibility message,” the SBJ says.

Seems to me like Crown Royal whiskey and its distinctive purple velvet bag would be a natural fit for the Ravens. (And, interestingly enough, SBJ notes Mark Waller, NFL senior vice president of sales and marketing, was a Diageo marketer for 17 years and with the company when it broke NASCAR’s ban on liquor advertising with Crown Royal and others in 2005.)

Maybe it’s about time the NFL broke down this sponsorship distinction. Yes, hard liquor and gambling carry a bigger stigma in our society than just drinking beer and wine (i.e., no liquor sold in Maryland on Sundays). But it’s not as if beer is reserved only for those who are morally pure and immune to trouble — anyone who’s ever been to a bar knows that’s not true either.

But would this allowance by the NFL set a worrisome precedent? If it bends on this to allow for more revenue opportunities, what’s next? Playboy Magazine ads?

Powered by Bookmarkify™

Here’s another huge piece of evidence that Maryland waited too long to approve slot machines.

The Associated Press is reporting that the 11 casinos in Atlantic City, N.J., reported a 19.2 percent drop in revenue last month, the biggest monthly decline in the state’s 30-year history of legalized gambling. Every casino in the city saw a decline, most by 20 percent or more, and some by nearly 30 percent, according to the state Casino Control Commission.

The AP story says the figures “provide further evidence that the recession and stiff competition from slots parlors in Pennsylvania and New York are putting a beating on the nation’s second-largest casino market.”

So here’s a question: At this point, why would any company want to put up the substantial capital necessary to open a slots parlor in Maryland?

ED WALDMAN, Managing Editor/Business

Powered by Bookmarkify™

In a tight economy, even a super fan might consider giving up season tickets or betting hard-earned money on a fantasy football team.

Today’s economic downturn hasn’t hurt just the average American; for some of Wall Street’s players, this probably feels worse than getting sacked by Ray Lewis. But try telling that to some of the financial world’s big-money boys who are still able to pony up the $100,000 entry fee into an elite fantasy football league where the total purse is $1 million, according to an article in The Wall Street Journal.

According to two participants and several business associates of league members, each of its 10 teams pays $100,000 to enter. The winner takes home a grand prize of $600,000, with $300,000 going to the second-place finisher and $100,000 for third place. These sums dwarf the typical pot for a fantasy football league, where each member antes up somewhere between $250 and $500 and the winner’s prize rarely exceeds $3,000.

Lest you should think these high rollers are only in it for the money, apparently the league champs have previously donated their winnings to unnamed children’s charities and Tsunami Relief Inc. All participants also give to the pet cause of one member, the New York-based Robin Hood Foundation that fights poverty.

In the same vein of US Weekly’s regular feature on stars being “just like us,” the WSJ article says the fantasy football league is just like the ones regular Americans play in, aside from the money.

There’s plenty of trash-talking, especially on Sundays, when the most active owners post comments, and occasional insults, on the league’s private message board on ESPN.com. … This season, participants say there’s been a little less chatter on the message board. “The last thing you want to do is talk about is the financial crisis,” says one owner. “But I would all bet we’re all spending a lot less time on football these days.”

So everyone needs an escape, but it’s still good to know that the financial crisis is weighing on them too. I just wonder how much time they spend reassessing their teams and trading players during the workday, while the economy continues to go down the tubes.

Isn’t it high-stakes gambling — not necessarily by these particular guys — that got us into this mess in the first place?

DANIELLE ULMAN, Business Writer

Powered by Bookmarkify™

Correct me if I’m wrong, but gamblers tend to be a superstitious lot. They make a move based on good premonitions, they’ve got lucky numbers, a special way to roll the dice — some even have a favorite position at the poker table.

Watching the regular customers downtown Baltimore’s Newsmart buy their daily lottery tickets while reporting on today’s story about the financial state of the Maryland Lottery, lotto players aren’t much different. They’ve got their lucky numbers and regular games they play, and rarely do they rock the boat.

Based on that set-up, would you introduce a new scratch-off game on what is supposedly the unluckiest day of the year?

Well, the Maryland Lottery, thumbing its proverbial nose in the face of superstition, is doing exactly that. Today, Friday the 13th, the agency will debut its newest scratch-off, “The Maryland Zoo’s Tic Tac Wild,” at the zoo’s Zoomerang! fundraising gala tonight. With a top prize of $10,000, the $2 scratch-off will help raise awareness about the zoo, according to a press release sent this week.

Carole Everett, spokeswoman for the Maryland Lottery said in an e-mail yesterday that they “hope Friday the 13th is a lucky day for our lottery players.”

If you play the lottery — or even if you don’t — do you think this timing will make this ticket unpopular, at least for today?

LIZ FARMER, Business Writer

Powered by Bookmarkify™

When Photographer Sarah Beck returned from Pimlico Race Course this morning and said she’d been kicked out of a trainers-only area, I knew she’d have some good footage of the celebrities — the horses that will compete Saturday.

The video below is just a warm-up to The Daily Record’s Preakness coverage. Check out our Business Friday issue tomorrow (or the TDR home page tonight) to read about businesses that use Preakness as a networking tool.

Or, maybe you’re interested in how November’s slots referendum may impact racing in the state. Either way, Andy Rosen and Liz Farmer have you covered.

JACKIE SAUTER, Web Editor

Please enable Javascript and Flash to view this Flash video.

Powered by Bookmarkify™

Not a huge surprise, but…

The Maryland Association of Counties is calling for a “yes” vote in this fall’s referendum on whether to allow slot machines around the state. MACo has backed slots since Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. was in office, largely as a way to pay for public education improvements.

At a news conference Thursday, MACo leaders struck a tone that you’re likely to hear throughout the campaign. Essentially, advocates say we need slots to shore up the state’s finances once and for all. After all, slots are expected to bring in more than $1 billion by fiscal 2012.

Here’s what Baltimore County Executive James T. Smith Jr., who is also MACo president, had to say:

“Without the slots revenue, Maryland will be looking at creating a new budget deficit or higher taxes or significant cuts to education.”

Slots foes say it is not fair to ask people to make what they see as a distasteful choice in order to avoid a perceived outcome that is even worse.

“There can be investments made that don’t come with the incumbent cost of slots,” Scott Arceneaux, a senior adviser to Marylanders United to Stop Slots, said during a panel discussion last week. He says slots will wind up hurting Maryland by causing problem gambling.

Do you think it’s just politics? What do you think would happen if the referendum were to fail? It will surely make for some interesting reading over the next year or so.

ANDY ROSEN, Business Writer

Powered by Bookmarkify™