By GERALD NEILY
Baltimore was ignored when the high rollers came to the table with slots proposals earlier this year, but now the city has leapt out in front of the suburbs in the political race to build Maryland’s first major slot machine palace.

Baltimore Entertainment Group (BEG), which made a seemingly minor wager for 500 slot machines on the shores of the City’s Middle Branch, has surged into the lead over the high-profile slots players with suburban proposals, Magna Entertainment (at Laurel Raceway) and David Cordish (in Arundel Mills Mall) according to a report in today’s Baltimore Sun. BEG has now leveraged its initial bid of 500 machines into a formidable plan for 3,750, the maximum number allowed by voters in last year’s referendum.

Months ago no one would have bet on BEG to emerge triumphant over the politically-connected slots favorite Magna or Cordish, with his buckets of cash. Read the rest of this entry »

By JOAN JACOBSON

The Sun’s editorial of 2/22/09 went a bit overboard, condoning a City Council bill that would raise $5 million in annual revenue from illegal video gambling. It’s bad enough they want revenue from legal gambling with a proposed slots parlor. Here is the letter to the editor I sent them today: Read the rest of this entry »

New source of revenue for Baltimore?

 

By JOAN JACOBSON
What’s next for Baltimore, collecting a licensing fee from prostitutes and drug dealers? A bill to be introduced Monday by Councilman Robert Curran aims to generate $5 million annually from the operators of those slot-less slot machines you see in bars and convenience stores. Is Baltimore this desperate for cash?

Read the rest of this entry »

Baltimore video gambling machine mogul “Johnny Z” is under investigation by the IRS and the feds

by Joan Jacobson 

Amidst all the recent news about gambling ventures’ tepid interest in opening slots casinos in Maryland, one big gambling story has gone virtually unreported by Baltimore’s biggest media outlets, including The Baltimore Sun. Only The Towson Times and The Daily Record showed any interest in reporting that one of Baltimore’s biggest owners of video gambling machines is the subject of a wide-spread investigation by the IRS and the Baltimore County police department’s vice squad. Read the rest of this entry »