After a nearly a decade of losing money, Maryland wants out of the business of owning slot machines once and for all.
The state has reaped billions from legalized gambling, but the slot machines cost as much as $30,000 apiece, plus $2,000 a year in maintenance.
The expense far exceeded what policymakers envisioned when they launched the gambling program, and they have slowly made deals with casinos to transfer ownership of the slot machines in exchange for tax breaks.
The four biggest of the state’s six casinos own their slot machines now; two do not. The state pays $14 million a year to provide machines for Rocky Gap Casino Resort and the Casino at Ocean Downs.
Legislation pending before the General Assembly would give those two casinos a 10 percent break on their tax bills if they agree to buy the machines by the start of 2018 — a deal that would cost the state’s Education Trust Fund about $10 million a year. The state would also pay a $1.6 million penalty for breaking its contract with slot machine companies two years early.
Click here to rad the rest of the article written by Erin Cox over at the Baltimore Sun