Are Slots The Answer?

Governor O'Malley wants to move forward with some aggressive new taxes and an increase in gambling in Maryland in order to offset the projected budget deficit. Today on my show, I spent some time talking about gambling as a means of raising revenue in support of government spending.

I do not believe the government should raise revenues from gambling. I mean, consider that the Governor's proposed spending package includes setting aside 6 million dollars a year in support of those suffering from Gambling Addictions. This should raise all of our eyebrows. Traditionally, gambling preys on those who can least afford to lose money in the first place. Is this where we should be trying to find revenue?

Gambling is a limited revenue. There is a limit to the number of folks who will come to casinos to pull the one armed bandits and we will find ourselves in competition with our border states for those same dollars. Surely, other gamblers will be created in Maryland, but is this a good thing?

It is my experience that government is addicted to money and spending. Government never received an increase in spending that it ever gave back. If slots revenues come in as projected at 150 million dollars, it will only take two or three years for the state to absorb this money and then come back for more. More slots, more casinos, and more money for those suffering from Gambling Addictions. More problem families. More poor choices.

Maryland State Government sold the citizens of this great state over twenty years ago on having a lottery system. The sales pitch featured a State Police Helicopter coming to the rescue of a citizen and the lottery was hailed as the answer to providing money for this much needed service. This money would only be used for public safety (medivac services) and education. So after all of these years, what do you think? That money is just another General Fund source that we never even talk about. The same will be true of slots revenue. Eventually, it will simply be absorbed into the General Fund, and other sources will be needed to fund our insatiable appetite for taxes and public spending.

Governor Ehrlich left office with 1.5 billion dollars in surplus which could have been used to off set the budget shortfalls. Instead, this money was spent last year with no thought of today. Now we face a 20% increase in the State Sales Tax and slots. This is the result of legislators unwilling to make some tough decisions and a public that demands their representatives "deliver the goods...or else!"

All of us must change the way we think in terms of what services government should be providing and what we classify as "success" in our legislators.