Gambling Industry Has Their Money On Maryland Lobbyists

Gambling-related businesses continue to hire high-priced Annapolis lobbyists, hoping to position themselves for profits if Maryland legalizes slot machines, disclosure forms showed yesterday.

A partial review of annual lobbyist filings showed that horse breeders, hotel and casino developers and operators, lottery-machine makers and track owners spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on fees to some of the capital's best-connected lobbyists during this year's General Assembly session.

Coverage of the debate over slot machines legalization in Maryland to raise state revenue. For the third year since Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. was elected, the Assembly did not adopt slot machine legislation, although the House and Senate passed versions of a bill. Differences between the two chambers were not reconciled before the Assembly adjourned in mid-April. Slots have been the governor's top legislative priority.

But the industry didn't give up. Gambling-related interests spent nearly $600,000 on 23 lobbyists whose disclosure forms were available yesterday at the office of the Maryland State Ethics Commission.

Yesterday was the deadline for the more than 700 lobbyists registered in Maryland to submit reports showing how much they earned for the six months ending April 30, a period which includes the Assembly session.

July 8, 2006
Posted By Susan Torres
Staff Editor, CasinoGamblingWeb.com    Previous Page | Internet Gambling | Top Online Casinos | Submit News!