Ehrlich Backs Slots At 3 Tracks; Most of $400 Million Would Fund Education
Republican gubernatorial candidate Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. said today that Maryland could raise as much as $400 million a year by legalizing slot machines at three horse tracks and that he would devote most of that money to improving public education.</br></br>Ehrlich's comments came in sharp contrast to the position of Democratic gubernatorial candidate Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, who has staunchly opposed expanding legal gambling options to erase a projected $900 million revenue shortfall next year. Instead, Townsend proposes to help balance the budget through freezing most state spending.</br></br>Ehrlich, in addition to endorsing slot machines, said he would need to chop 4 percent off the budgets of most state agencies, capture more federal funds and raise some state fees.</br></br>The gaming issue surfaced again as a key political rift between the two candidates today, just as Maryland's largest gaming venues, its horse tracks, were undergoing a major transition. The owner of Pimlico Race Course and Laurel Park, the state's two premier thoroughbred racetracks, announced that he would be selling control of his company to a Canadian entertainment firm.</br></br>Owner Joseph A. De Francis said the sale would further "galvanize" the debate over legalizing slot machines in Maryland. "We have the opportunity to bring our policy leaders the perspective of an international company that has operations in three countries and over a dozen states."