Near Washington, a Casino Plan Awaits the Voters

The following is an excerpt from an article in:


The New York Times
Wednesday, October 10, 2012

Near Washington, a Casino Plan Awaits the Voters

By EUGENE L. MEYER

OXON HILL, Md. — When National Harbor, a 300-acre, $2 billion minicity on the Potomac just south of Washington, opened for business in 2008 at the start of the recession, the entire venture was regarded as something of a gamble.

Now the project’s developer, Peterson Companies, is betting even more on the project, which is anchored by the 450,000-square-foot Gaylord National Hotel and Convention Center, the largest property of its type on the East Coast. Peterson is betting that casino gambling will add even more luster, and it has signed an agreement with MGM Resorts International, a major casino player, to make it happen.

But there’s a catch. Maryland voters must first approve an initiative in next month’s election to allow table games here in Prince George’s County and at five other locations in the state that already have slot machine parlors. The majority of voters in Prince George’s County must also approve it.

The contest has generated multimillion-dollar campaigns and pits not only local proponents and opponents of gambling but also gambling behemoths against one another. Further, it has become a battle among states: Maryland, which seeks to gain the revenue that flows from taxes on the casinos, versus others, notably Pennsylvania and Delaware, which added table games in 2010 and 2011, and seek to protect the revenue they now receive.

It’s a high-stakes battle, with the competing casino interests having spent more than $36 million for television spots, direct mail, robo-calls and telemarketing calls, Web sites and other promotional efforts — more than twice the total of $17 million that was spent by the two main candidates in the 2010 governor’s race.

“We’re in the midst of a full-blown modern campaign and everything that goes with it,” said an MGM spokesman, Gordon Absher. The amount MGM is investing in the campaign is constantly changing, he said, because “the other side is fighting desperately to protect its revenues.”

The proposal is backed by Rushern L. Baker III, the Prince George’s county executive, who voted against slot machine gambling as a state legislator in 2007. But he now believes a high-end casino with name entertainers and other Las Vegas-style features would help economic development and replenish depleted county coffers in a struggling economy.

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