Delaware Makes their Move

It was only a matter of time after we passed the slots amendment here in Maryland that Delaware upped the ante:

Before Maryland sees a penny from slot machines, Delaware may up the ante in the regional race for gaming revenues by approving sports betting at its three racinos as soon as this year.

That could mean less money than anticipated for education, the thoroughbred industry and other beneficiaries of legalized gambling in Maryland, prompting fresh criticism of slots, which voters approved in November.

I've said for a long time that expecting slots machines to be the panacea for all of our fiscal woes was not a very convincing argument, and that the expansion of slot machine gambling into Maryland was merely going to further divide and existing pie than create new revenue for Maryland; and even bigger problem now that we have seen the downturn in the national economy. Since Maryland's slots revenue was clearly going to crimp upon Delaware's revenue, it was only a logical and natural extension to expect them to go in a different direction, and they wisely went in a direction (sports gambling) that other states are prohibited to exploit.

Obviously, Governor O'Malley and his cabal of slots supporters clearly overstated, exaggerated, or lied (depending on your perspective) the economic impact that slot machines were going to have here in Maryland. That is the only way that they were able to convince so many Maryland voters to adopt this cockamamie, poorly conceived policy. Unfortunately, now that the slots legislation has been ensconced in our State Constitution, we have little recourse in correcting this bad decision, so it will be left to Governor O'Malley and the leadership of the General Assembly to responsibly manage our state's finances for once...