Hotels love ‘em. Gas station operators are big fans of the extra customers at the pump. But West Virginia, Delaware and Pennsylvania casinos, which I describe in today’s story about table games as “islands of gaming,” don’t have much of a direct impact on other surrounding businesses.

At the Hollywood Casino at Charles Town Races, the co-owner of the nearby Turf Motel is ecstatic about the new gaming that’s attracting more gamblers. That means more customers for the Motel, which is planning an expansion to accommodate the expected boom.

After the casino opened, the Turf’s occupancy rates shot up from about 45 percent to 65 percent, said Ron Marcus.

“With table games my only hope is it’s going to increase another 20 [points],” he said.

At the Holiday Inn Express, occupancy averages 90 percent on the weekends — at about $160 per night.

“Most of time what they’re here for is the casino,” said General Manager Nelson Parkinson.

But hop in the car and drive a half-mile into town and the businesses on sleepy Charles Town’s main drag seem unaffected by the excitement just up the road. Unlike the casino’s parking lot, the cars parked here all boast West Virginia license plates.

The storefronts are mostly service firms (like law offices), eateries and consignment shops. Not much to sway the casino crowd, who can chow down in one of Charles Town’s five restaurants or the food court for a bite. (The casino is also opening a high-end steak restaurant this fall.)

“I don’t get a lot of casino traffic,” said Dan Vaira, the owner of The Dish, a farm-to-table bistro. “They have food at the track.”

For a little further “investigation,” photographer Max Franz and I dipped into the new ice cream shop on Washington Street to go spoil our dinners. There we found people taking a break from work, friends chattering about their days, moms with kids … but no tourists. Except us, of course.

Table games? What table games?

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Yesterday I wrote about Money Magazine’s list of its best small cities to live. Eden Prairie, Minn., edged out Ellicott City/Columbia for first place thanks to attributes like “gently rolling hills,” “plenty of outer beauty” and other idyllic, Midwestern traits of the type long chronicled by writers like Garrison Keillor.

But consider:

1. The magazine says one of the headlining reasons the Minnesota town wins is because it has “a dynamite economy.”  But then it turns around and says not only does Ellicott City/Columbia have a jobless rate “just as enviable as Eden Prairie’s,” but it is an “economic powerhouse.”  I’m not sure how dynamite compares quantitatively with a powerhouse, but by Money Magazine’s standards, the difference is apparently a measly .1 percent.  Come on.  Negligible at best.

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A few months ago I told you that Hollywood’s first lacrosse movie might be filmed in Maryland. In my story I also said Maryland’s depleted film incentives fund could keep it from winning the movie, but that the producers were hopeful something could be worked out.

Well you can hold that thought.

I touched base with producer Todd Harris on Thursday and it looks like Maryland is out of the picture (no pun intended).

“I really haven’t gotten the investment response I’d hoped for from MD yet, and the state’s resources remain lean by comparison to some other states,” Harris said in an e-mail.

There’s no way around it. That’s kind of embarrassing that a state considered a hotbed of lacrosse — and that has lacrosse as its official team sport — couldn’t score Hollywood’s first movie on the sport.

One solace is it’s not all about money — Harris said the movie has gained traction in recent months with Native American investors, and they will likely shoot the movie on a reservation in the Northeast.

That’s actually really good news for the Native American community — it did invent the sport after all. Now not only do we get a lacrosse movie featuring a Native American underdog tale, but a reservation will likely get the economic benefits of hosting the movie production.

Harris did say Crooked Arrows will still most likely be casting in Maryland, but we don’t know yet when those audition dates will be.

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If you’ve followed Maryland health care politics in the last decade, Vinny DeMarco’s name should ring a bell.

He’s the guy who has fought unrelentingly for years to win health care coverage for more Marylanders, not to mention get publicity for his causes, and he’s made some impressive strides. Under DeMarco’s watch, his Health Care For All! Coalition has successfully lobbied to get coverage for 100,000 more Maryland citizens.

Now, DeMarco is the subject of a new book called The DeMarco Factor, written by Michael Pertschuk, former chairman of the Federal Trade Commission (the agency that advocates for American consumers), and founder of the Advocacy Institute.

Universal health care has been DeMarco’s most recent crusade — while interviewing him over the phone about the passage of health care reform this spring, our conversation was interrupted several times by passersby congratulating Vinny on the news — but the book tells the story of a guy who has passionately fought many other battles.

From the publisher:

In twenty years of organizing campaigns in Maryland, he has led successful efforts to pass gun control laws (against National Rifle Association opposition), to hike cigarette taxes to prevent youth smoking, and to extend health care to hundreds of thousands of low-income workers. He has also built a unique alliance of mainstream and conservative faith groups, which helped secure rare bipartisan votes in Congress for the enactment in July 2009 of landmark FDA regulation of tobacco manufacture and marketing.

The book promises backroom discussions, and apparently, DeMarco names names. Sounds like a compelling read.

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Valentine’s Day has come and gone, but Maryland sure seems intent on making a love connection of an economic development sort.

And its courtship strategy looks like it hasn’t changed much in 10 years. (I know what you’re thinking: We’re really exploring the romance theme a lot here at the blog lately, huh?)

News of state efforts to woo Northrop Grumman Corp. trickled out last week. Gov. Martin O’Malley, General Assembly leaders and state economic development Secretary Christian Johansson have put the Free State’s best foot forward in hopes of landing the California defense contracting giant’s corporate headquarters.

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I spoke to Joseph De Francis last night regarding today’s story about his loss of gaming rights to Laurel Park, and the former owner of Maryland’s thoroughbred race tracks said while he was disappointed in the judge’s decision, he was not surprised.

He also added that what he thought was more significant was Magna Entertainment Corp.’s request for the delay of the auction of Maryland’s tracks by nearly two weeks.

“That’s what we’ve all been waiting for,” he said. Now it’s that much longer that the tracks “will be under the cloud of bankruptcy.”

When Magna’s attorney Brian Rosen told the judge on Tuesday they’d like to move the auction back to Jan. 21, I was disappointed (after all, we’ve been waiting for this thing for more than nine months) but not at all surprised. After all Magna has requested to move back just about every date related to the Maryland race tracks, it was only a matter of time before the auction got moved.

On a side note, the auction is closed to the press — which means we’ll get to tell you who the winning bidder is but won’t get to see and relay to you the auction day’s antics firsthand.

The reason for privacy given to me by the New York firm running the auction was that it was for the protection of the bidders — the auction had been advertised as a private affair. Also, the proceedings will be taking place on private grounds, so it’s sound reasoning.

Still, I think Marylanders who are following this story would be curious about how the new owner pulled it off and who came just a hair shy of beating him — a story we won’t get to really know if the auction is closed. Does that disappoint anyone?

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Here’s something to chew on as we enter the holiday-food binge: Maryland is among six states where more than half of all residents will be obese by 2018. That’s according to a new report based on findings from Emory University health care economist Ken Thorpe, who heads up the Partnership to Fight Chronic Disease.

No pun intended, but that’s huge.

Thorpe finds that if trends continue, then 43 percent of American adults, or 103 million people, will be obese, and the costs associated with obesity would quadruple to $344 billion in 2018. But he says that the U.S. can save $200 billion if obesity levels hold steady at 31.3 percent.

With all the talk in Washington about cutting health care costs, it sounds like obesity should be a big target for Congress.

If Thorpe’s predictions are correct, 52.1 percent of Maryland adults will be obese in 2018, with related health care costs of $7.9 billion. In 2008, 31.2 percent of the state’s adults were obese and $1.4 billion in related costs were spent.

People that have body mass indexes above 30 are considered obese. (Go here to calculate your BMI).

Oklahoma is projected to be the worst off in 2018, with 56.1 percent of adults falling into the obese category. Ohio would have the highest related costs at $16.2 billion. (Oklahoma has 3.6 million residents compared to Ohio’s 11.5 million).

Which state would fare the best? Colorado, known as the leanest state in the nation, would have the fewest adults who are obese at 29.8 percent, but Connecticut would have the lowest associated costs at $2.9 billion. (Colorado has 4.9 million residents compared to Connecticut’s 3.5 million).

Thorpe doesn’t offer much in the way of advice on how to stop obesity levels from increasing in his report — he briefly mentions that including calorie and fat count on restaurant menus has the potential to cut obesity growth in half and that taxing high-calorie sodas can help.

But in a piece on the Huffington Post, he identifies four ways to attack the issue:

1. Convince Americans that obesity is a serious medical condition that increases other health risks (diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease), not a lifestyle choice.
2. Make sure the stigma attached to obesity doesn’t overshadow the need to combat it.
3. Get employers invested in wellness.
4. Reconfigure health care system to allow docs to treat obesity as a preventable health condition.

If none of those options work out, looks like The Biggest Loser might have to start accepting more contestants.

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It’s hard to have thoughts of thanks (and giving) when you’re stuck in your cute little two-door, sandwiched between a minivan and a Suburban staring at traffic as far as the eye can see… Not that I’m being specific or anything.

But thanks to lower fuel prices this year, AAA Mid-Atlantic is predicting that 4.6 percent more Marylanders will hit the roads for the holiday this year compared with last year. (Although not me — the only road I’m hitting is the parking lot when we go out during halftime to toss the football around. I’ve learned my lesson, thank you.)

In total, approximately 794,000 Marylanders are expected to travel in one form or another for Thanksgiving. That’s up nearly 4 percent last year. Airlines also appear to be losing out to other transportation modes as just 6.5 percent of travelers (52,000) are expected to take to the skies — a 5.2 percent decline.

“It’s not surprising that Marylanders are foregoing the airport this year to reach their Thanksgiving destination,” said Regina Averella in a news release. “Given the hassles of airport security, reduced capacity, as well as added surcharges and fees, it seems Marylanders are seeking other modes of transportation that are less restrictive and perhaps more inexpensive.”

Speaking of which, anyone hear about the new Super Bowl surcharge this year? When will these guys stop?

At any rate, I’ve also noticed in my commute to work along I-95, the roads have already gotten more congested since Thursday. Seems as if the traffic madness is already upon us.

Are you going to brave the storm that’s alrady accumulating out there? So are you like me and hiding from traffic this year?

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The University of Maryland Medical System’s storied history is chock full of larger-than-life personalities. In my reporting on the system’s 25th anniversary since it separated from the state, some interesting and humorous anecdotes emerged. Below are some tidbits that we couldn’t fit in the story in the paper…

After the system went private in 1984, some big changes had to be made to make it financially stable.

Frank Gunther, the first UMMS chairman of the board, told me one change was that the clinical chiefs at the University of Maryland Medical Center were going to be held accountable for their budgets, something that had never really been a practice. That didn’t quite sit right with R Adams Cowley, the world-renowned doctor behind the Shock Trauma Center, according to Gunther.

I have a very vivid memory of telling them they had to submit their budgets. And Dr. Cowley came in and said, “Here you go, see you next year.” And I said, “No, we’re going to be looking at this and making sure that you’re following your budget.” He was aghast that anyone would be looking at his budget and checking up on him.

The system also struggled with changing the employment culture. Those who stayed on from the old system were still state employees, with state benefits and two times as many holidays as system employees.

When Gov. Harry Hughes declared the Friday after Christmas a state holiday in 1986, it was great news for the state employees, but bad news for the system. The hospital system needed to run 24-7, and so it had to pay state employees double time for their work. It was a Christmas present that cost UMMS $400,000.

Morton Rapoport was the system’s CEO for more than two decades, beginning in 1982. He was trained as a doctor and had some management experience from his time at the medical school, but mostly he told me he was learning his business skills on the job.

It turned out his management style left a little something to be desired. The clinical chiefs of staff at the hospital publicly said that they wanted Rapoport out.

Around that time, Shock Trauma was getting new helicopters, and Cowley, its chief, had really been pushing for the state to pick a French company as the vendor. One day, Cowley called and said the CEO of the helicopter firm was in town and wanted to take Rapoport for a ride.

For a fleeting moment, perhaps an insane moment, I thought that the clinical chiefs had come up with an ingenious plan to remove me. I would be killed in a helicopter crash. ~Excerpted from Rapoport’s book “Alignment,” about the system’s privatization, written with Stephen C. Schimpff, the former executive vice president and chief operating officer of the system.

Rapoport only agreed to take the trip if Cowley came along, not knowing that the pilot would let Cowley take over the controls.

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University of Maryland men’s soccer coach Sasho Cirovski has signed a deal with Mondo, a sports flooring manufacturer, in a five-year sponsorship agreement.

Cirovski, who led Maryland to NCAA championships in 2005 and 2008, will endorse Mondoturf Ecofill Star, Mondo’s artificial turf, through speaking engagements, trade shows and meetings.

It’s not exactly Gatorade…but it’s nice to see Cirovski getting some recognition for his team’s success. So often, college sports that don’t end in “-ball” get overlooked by sponsors because they don’t draw nearly as many fans.

But this is a case where you have a niche sport, and Cirovski’s a known name. And you have a product that’s very specific. The same circles that know Cirovski are the people Mondo is trying to sell this product to. It’s not as glamorous as the big names like Gatorade, but then again, most Gatorade drinkers probably don’t know who Cirovski is.

So in that sense you have a good fit here that’s very targeted. The terms of the deal were not disclosed but I certainly hope they’re paying him enough money to sit through those trade shows.

Just one problem, I’m forseeing here: Ludwig Field, where Maryland plays its home games, has a Bermuda grass surface. Hmmmm….

–Liz Farmer, Business Writer

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