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Tuesday, October 08, 2019

Baltimore Plots Raid on Education’s “Casino Lockbox”

Less than a year after Maryland voters overwhelmingly passed “Question 1: The Gambling Revenue Dedicated to Education Lockbox Amendment,” Baltimore politicians are proposing to divert money from it to pay for the reconstruction of the Pimlico Racetrack.

The plan is part of an agreement to give still more public money to the owners of Pimlico for facilities renovation. The arrangement is intended to keep the Preakness Stakes at the northwest Baltimore track. Yet, from 2010 through 2018, Maryland’s horse racing industry, including breeders and the harness racing tracks, have already received $415 million in state financial support. Of that about $66 million has gone to racetrack facilities.

According to the Baltimore Sun: “Crucial to the plan is convincing lawmakers to extend the life of a subsidy for the tracks called the “Racetrack Facilities Renewal Account.” The state’s casinos each pay a certain percentage of their slot machine profits into the fund, which is used for upgrades at the tracks.

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13 comments:

Anonymous said...

Maryland has gone to S*** run by a bunch of thieves

Concerned Retiree said...

Pimlico should move and build their own facility with this money in a better area away from Baltimore. Baltimore Politians should have no say in where this money should go or how it is spent. These Politians cannot spend money or regulate the tax dollars given to Baltimore. Where Pimlico is located is not good for Maryland and attendance. "Screw These Crooks" from Baltimore. They have no say in how Maryland dollars are spent.

Anonymous said...

Typical democratic party solutions!! All I can say is all you Maryland state employees better hold your breath to see if your retirement funds are available upon retirement. I'm sure salisbury is spiraling down the same path

Anonymous said...

Thieves and liers..ive seen them use lottery money to cover bay bridge tolls on big summer weekends

Anonymous said...

Seems a few enrich themselves at our expense all the time.

Anonymous said...

What's really scary.?? Nobody saw this coming. Lmao. Can you imagine if these crooks would stop getting our money?? No gay marriage. No transgender. No full term abortion. No impeachment investigations. NO NOTHING!!!

Anonymous said...

How about stopping froshes trump lawsuits! How much is that costing us?..how about helping ice to deport the freeloaders on our medical, courts and education systems..how much is that costing us??...man i cannot wait to get the hell out of this state..i sure dont plan to retire here.

Anonymous said...

How about stopping froshes trump lawsuits! How much is that costing us?..how about helping ice to deport the freeloaders on our medical, courts and education systems..how much is that costing us??...man i cannot wait to get the hell out of this state..i sure dont plan to retire here.

Anonymous said...

If tracks can't sustain their own facilities... And we're subsidizing breeders, too?!

Anonymous said...

I don't understand 6:13, can you explain?

Anonymous said...


The Preakness is one race on one day. That appears to be the only leg propping this facility up.

From what I've read across recent years it's a run down track in a bad section of Harm City.

If the owners can't make a go of it from their own resources perhaps they should relocate to Indianapolis.

Wouldn't be missed.

Anonymous said...

If memory services one of the concessions made to legalize slot machine gamboling was to direct a percentage revenue to the Maryland Jockey Club to increase racing purses.

SBJ

Anonymous said...

The whole gambling for the schools is a scam. What do you expect? Baltimore is a crap hole. The city should be bulldozed and rebuilt as one big prison.