When It Comes To Casinos Funding Education, The House Always Wins

BALTIMORE- At the risk of over-simplifying Maryland’s $40 billion-plus budget, the situation the state faced back in 2008 when it decided to legalize casino gambling was not that different from what many families were grappling with then.

It was the scariest point in the great recession, and commitments made during better times, in the state’s case to ramp up education funding, in that of many families to buy a bigger house with an adjustable-rate mortgage, were suddenly looking unaffordable. Opening up a new state revenue stream in the form of legalized slots was more or less like a beleaguered homeowner getting a second, part-time job and putting all the new money toward covering part of the mortgage. It may have been the least painful decision available and it may have allowed the family to pay the cable bill and order a pizza now and then, but it doesn’t mean the house is getting paid off any faster.

Likewise, casino revenues cover part of the money state law mandates for aid to public schools, less than 10 percent, actually, but nothing about the 2008 referendum allowing slot machines or the 2012 referendum expanding gambling changed the education funding formulas. The gambling money allowed the state to avoid other bad options, like additional tax increases or spending cuts on health care, public safety, the environment and other priorities, but it does not and never will result in a single extra dime going to education.

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