If he didn't have the 71 votes, he probably wouldn't hold the special session.

As always, O'Malley said a bunch of nothing in the introductory statement. Does this mean only Prince Georges County will vote on the new casino.
How can they think about a new casino when the original 5 are not yet in operation? As a matter of fact 2 of the 3 in operation seem to be in trouble!

Sure he would. He got a $100,000 contribution that we know about plus whatever else we don't know about.

O NO! O Malley!

Slot casinos are just a temporary fix to our weakened economy. The construction workers will be unemployed again after the casinos are built. The money will go to
the casino owners and fatten their pockets and leave the few employed citizens in this state with empty pockets. We've lost big companies headquartered in Maryland because of high tax revenues. But as the "O" says - We Are Moving Forward". The real answer is forward to what? nO hOpe and nO Change

When AA County voted to have the casino at Arundle Mills the floodgates were opened all the way. To turn back now would be pro Cornish. The spot at National Harbor will be perfect for PG County. I don't recall people being upset when the MD Lottery made it possible to play Keno and now Race Trak Horse racing at Dunkin Donuts all day long.

Promising, again, that slots will solve all our problems. Using education to fool Maryland. Trying to make people believe temporary jobs will solve the unemployment issue. I hope it comes to a vote in November--it will give me something to vote NO on.

O'Malley is one dangerous guy that is only thinking of himself for 2016. He has distroyed this state at the expense of the tax payers, and has ruined the back bone of the state which are the businesses that made this state thrive. But what does he care he will be leaving and trying to take his socialist agenda with him to the white house, this P.O.S. needs to go and be voted Out !

There needs to be some predictability other than the obvious. If this new casino in PG County is allowed, tyhe one slated to be built in the city will truely suffer. The only thing that will keep that one thriving will be the tourist traffic and Arundel Mills will undoutedly lose much of the revenue it is enjoying, which is mainly from curious newcommers seeking to see what all the hoopla is about. Once the new uniqueness fades, as is already being seen, the anticipated windfall will also die. There already is not near the promised citizenship employment, and what will soon be seen, if not already taking place, is positions being filled with persons from other counties and states. O'Malley has shielded the truth of the matter with promissesmore education funds and less unemployment. Neither are changed in any significant measure, and will have a negative effect when the goals are not met. The city, which has deteriorating pipelines and major deficiancies in funding for Police, firefighters, neighborhood recreational facilities and education, seems to get plenty of funding to host a race that is costing the buisnesses and other areas major dollars, allowing he and the Mayor, to enjoy tickets and personal entities for themselves, friends, family and staff others can not even afford to watch let alone give out. There is something majorly wrong when these things are permitted under the guise of helping.

All fo' da chillen ! All Ehrlich wanted was a few slots, and I do believe O'malley and the Annapolis Crowd was against it. Remember, "It will bring crime and undesireables into MD.". With this 'Harbor Bunch', we bypass all that and go right to The Mob!!!

zoobie, i agree, if the dems had not blocked this years ago, we would not be having this conversation, and the we would have the newest schools and best education in the world!!! ITS FOR THE CHILDREN....RIGHT!!!

Holding a special session of the legislature at the behest of gambling interests is ridiculous. Reducing taxes on the gambling owners after just having raised them on a lot of the rest of us is even more ridiculous.

If gambling is such a great revenue generator for the state, why not cut out the middleman and have the state own and operate the casinos? That way all the profit would go to the state, and we'd greatly reduce the likelihood of corruption. Then maybe the people rather than the special interests would actually benefit from a gambling expansion.

Splendid, when has government run anything without corruption?

Special Session?Casino? Did he just screw the Operators of Arundel Mills?O'Malley and Miller and Bush need to go now! Can't wait to see this Law Suit.Moe,Larry and Curley,what an embarrassment to Marylanders.

Just follow the money trail. Marylanders will never see a dime.

Remember all of this when O'Mally runs for President in a few years. CASINOs and the Chinese Mob on every American Streetcorner. Learn Chinese today.

The casino at Naitonal Harbor is the only venue that ever made economic sense to Maryland. Cordish's glamourized parking garage simply takes money from fiscally illiterate locals who, if they weren't throwing money away money in his machines, would be spending it elsewhere locally. National Harbor on the other hand will draw ostly form out of state. Also unllike Cordish's place, the National Harbor location does not have thousand of homes immediately adjacent. It is so funny to watch Cordish fight against his own tactics and pretend he actually cares about Perryville or anyone but himself for that matter. Sorry Dave. But just like most of the folks at your machines, you lose:) National Harbor casino is a win win for Maryland.

You know when hes lying, his mouth moves. There would be no session if he didn't have the vote. And these delegates who said they wouldn't show up,, what BS. Bunch of sheep. We all know what they truly are,,politician is just another name for it,,,,,

It's a darn shame that our society has devolved to the point of becoming dependent on the government generating funds from serious addiction problems. Good and sound government would seek to minimize these very damaging arena's rather than promote them. Alcohol and gambling addiction ruins many lives.
For a broken government or Governor to promote more of the same is a cop out...
If this is the best that they can provide for the citizens then the quality of leadership must be improved. Greed driven Casino owners own the government in this case, and guys like Omalley demonstrate their in ability to govern without being corrupted.
Very weak perceived leadership.

Hey O'Malley & Bush, remember when slots were evil, when Bob wanted them. Can you spell "HYPOCRITES".

Let's just remember it was Ehrlich, not O'Malley, who got this ball rolling. Partisan politics prevented it from being implemented under Ehrlich's regime, and since then tens of millions of dollars of revenue have been lost as a result.

Also, what John Kerner said below :) O'Malley is doing his best Mitt Romney imitation.

It is in fact a sad State when the perceived leader's are willing to gamble with it's own citizens lives because they lack the ability to manage fiscal responsibilities otherwise.

What a hypocrite, these are the same 3 stoodges who were against slots and any additional gambling when Ehrlich was in charge. Oppression for the poor was their cry. P. U. Maryland politics. Nice shot against Mr. Cordish too.

Have you ever seen such an incompetent group as O'Malley, Miller, and Busch?? Nearby states aare cleaniong MD's clock. Look at Dover Downs and Charlestown Races and slots. They are gold mines. Yet MD, after five years, has only three of the five built. Most voters thought they were going to put the slots at the race tracks(Pimlico and Laurel). Instead, they put one at a mall??Now they want to build another one . This is the gang that could not shoot straght..

No one gets it. This has nothing to do with the children, horse racing, balancing the state budget or anything like that. This is a perfect campaign fundraising storm. By pitting all these competing interests (Cordish, Penn National, National Harbor, etc) against each other, all these Maryland politicians can raise tons of money. One group will get the National Harbor site, the rest will get massive tax breaks and the state will eventually get less money. Oh, and whenever they need more money for the campaign coffers in the future, they can just threaten to raise taxes on the casino operators and guess what....ka-ching....ka-ching.

I have no problem with the gambling part of this and the location at National Harbor. IF I wanted to gamble, I'm not going all the way down to NH. There are other options closer. If they kept the government part to a minimum and not be soooo greedy with the proceeds and throwing the money back at the casinos after they take their cut and use the funds more effectively we wouldn't be having this discussion.

They are complete morons but many of us (not me) voted for these clowns and this is what we have to deal with for the next 2 years.

The casino up in Cecil County has already taken a big hit after the one in Anne Arundel opened up. Let's just keep throwing these things everywhere....without an actual plan.

Does anyone actual think revenue will go to schools? Again the Maryland government bypasses the people and injects their own will. The greed of this state government is unbelievable! I voted against the amendment in 2008 not because of gambling (we already have that it is called the Lottery!). It was because of the manipulation of the locations that allowed a predetermined few to bid and collect. Why would we not let the free market play out and allow casinos to locate to the best locations. This is government gone wild! Stop it all and bring sanity back to government!

If table games is a separate ballot, I would vote "Yes".I will vote "No" for the PG casino, especially if it does not require them to hold off opening until the already approved casinos have been open at least a year, to become established. (I won;t go to any of them, but people should have a choice of how to waste their money.)

One thing for certain about Owe'Malley, Busch, Miller, Volaro and the rest of the socialists in Annapolis. They are AGAINST U.S. Military Veterans! There has been legislation proposed in Annapolis for the past 5 or 6 years to allow Veterans organizations statewide, ie; American Legion Posts and Veterans of Foreign Wars Posts to allow slot machines within the confines of their Posts, as they are permitted on the Eastern Shore. There is a true need for slots in these Posts, for members and guests only, to assist in the maintainance of the buildings and provide for the U.S. Military Veterans in need. A large percentage of the proceeds would also be donated to a local non-profit organization of teach Post's choosing, ie; volunteer fire companies. The Harford County Delegation has always been in favor of this legislation, as well as some of the other Counties. But, the answer has always been NO by your governor and his cronies!
Bottom line is.....there's nothing in it for them! DISGUSTING!

Table games make perfect sense, as does a high end MGM casino in Nat. Harbor. Should be able to attract tons of DC/VA/MoCo residents that currently are forced to spend their money in WVa/NJ or on trips to Vegas.

Hollywood Casino in Perryville is down 30% for several reasons: 1) Half of Balto. City now goes to Live! and takes up space. 2) Their payout is lousy because they have to pay such incredibly high taxes. 3) No free alcohol, lousy comps, stupid hours thanks to the ridiculous MD rules. 4) No table games. Delaware Park is only 20 minutes farther up I95. They have table games, free drinks, better comps, 24 hour operation and better payouts. With the kinds of rules that the masterminds in our state legislature has imposed on MD casinos, it's amazing that any operator bid to open one. Probably the only positive for the operators is that MD was stupid enough to spend hundreds of millions to actually buy the machines!

DW
Whats the point of having any casinos when by the time Annapolis gets through raising our taxes, no one will have any money (except for the "entitlement crowd") to spend in them.

I am surprised that our legislators have not voted to legalize the next greatest cash crop.........marijuana. They might as well. With all the political reteric and legislation dedicated to gambling and casinos, you would think they have already started smoking! To be honest, our legislators are doing nothing but blowing smoke at our expense.

Instead of generating revenue by having another casino why don't we try reducing costs and waste?

Every game at every casino is rigged to win for the casino owners. To deny this fact is simply nuts.Casino's take advantage of the public at large and produce far more losers than winners. For the government to promote this kind of tragedy in the name of perceived fiscal responsibility is criminal in my opinion....those that push to do damage to a large percentage of the population should be removed from office and harshly punished. This is a clear example of weak leadership that lacks the skill to run anything other than a casino.

I wonder if they will name the new casino after a failing MD school ... so that people know where the money is going? For example, the Sandia Casino in New Mexico. I think they should also come out with a new scratch off called "Help the shut ins" because we all know that MD seniors get so much money from the lottery.

I agree with J. Ventura's belief: that politicians should have to wear jump suits like Nascar drivers ... with patches showing all the companies and people that have given them money.

What I find so interesting is that Balt county only get 40% of the money from the speed camera tickets and 60 % goes to contract company (which is an out of state company).. yet the state is getting a much larger cut from the casinos???? I can't wait untill the MD State startsaccessing people's car onstar to pick up that they have an emissions issue.. I can just picture your check engine light going on or seat belt light going .. and getting a ticket in the mail... or better yet.. they could just disable the car totally. Think of all the money the state could get from that source of revenue.

Well Martin, where is your answer to Comptroller Franchot about all your contributions from the gaming industry between the end of the regular session and now? Are you gonna man up for once in your life?

An email from our next governor. "Dear Supporter, As you know, the General Assembly is convening today for its second special session in the past three months, primarily to pave the way for a Las Vegas-style casino in Prince George’s County and around-the-clock table games at Maryland’s current gambling sites.

Due to the highly irregular occurrence of convening a special session to benefit a single industry, and in the interest of transparency, I sent a letter yesterday to the governor and members of the General Assembly requesting that they voluntarily disclose all contributions they have received for any and all affiliated campaign accounts from national gambling interests. Based on my work with taxpayers throughout the State, I'm aware of the growing public suspicion that this special session is not about jobs, revenue or public reinvestment, but rather an illustration of the corrosive effects of special interest money in our political system. We simply can’t afford this pervasive cynicism to erode public confidence in our institutions of state government. During the regular 90 day session, current campaign finance reports of public officials are open to public scrutiny; however, this special session doesn’t provide this basic level of transparency and legitimacy without the voluntary disclosure I’ve requested. ...

wow.... I vote that inorder to gamble at the casinos ... you can only use money printed in Maryland.. this currency can only be spent in Maryland...It will be printed at Sparrows point by all the unemployed steel workers. If you want to change the money into US currency there will be a slight adminstrative fee that will build new jails for corporate white collar criminals that will be forced to walk on tread mills to produce electricity for low income people in MD.

Thanks.. my MD Platform will be "I can see all the gambling chips from my house".

or vote for me I'm a sure bet!

Who here remembers how Erlich wanted slots to be distributed to small businesses?
Who here remembers how the casinos were only going to be slots?
Who here remembers how Arundel Mills was promised exclusive time limited rights?
"allow the people of Prince George’s County the opportunity to decide" right........
when are the people of this state going to wake up to what the real face of corruption and cronyism looks like. there is no such thing as compromise with Annapolis. only incremental steps of getting what they want.

Great comment today by Peter Schmuck (sp) on C-4 today.

He asked - "I wonder what member of the O'Malley family will be the General Manager of the new National Harbor Casino?"

LOL C4
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/opinion/oped/bal-olesker022703,0,499086.column

C4 had his share of ethics problems, too, back in 2002. C4 has basically sold out his family's name for money from WBAL to tout right wing BS and be their token black person. In heaven his deceased relatives are waiting for him with nerf sticks to beat him silly.

Why are Ehrlich and Julius Henson Friends today?

I don't know why is O'Malley and Shattuck friends today Steve?

Hey ace ,if you can't answer the question don't waste my time with your English lesson. This is 2012 I bet you wouldn't understand a tweet or text.Your type of communication skills are ancient history. Let Steve or you or Fifa whoever you call yourself answer the question.

Mr. Sears,
Don't you think it's time to shut down this blog?

Bottom line___ Casino's destroy lives in the name of fun.
Weak perceived leaders willingly promote them because of their corrupt in ability to manage fiscal responsibilities effectively.
The funds have never been applied to the area's promised or needed.
They tend to place many more depressed, loser drunks on the roads on a daily basis, endangering the lives of many on the roads.

Elected public servants that promote, vote or participate in this kind of ill behavior should be literally thrown out of office, have their asses kicked, and thrown promptly into jail.
End of discussion.

Romney Ryan, truly moving America ahead and stopping the Great American Decline under the radical progressives.
Stop the dictatorial executive once and fro all and send him back to his own war zone in Chicago. Or wherever he came from.

NO TAX CUTS FOR CASINOS. We should have the best schools in the country, with all the money they are getting from the lottery, and casinos, unless they are not getting the money.