Panel Considers Possible Expansion Of Slot Machines

By Bryan P. Sears, Maryland Matters

March 25, 2026

A trio of off-track betting operators are betting on a proposal to allow them to offer slot machine gambling.

That proposal was the subject of a meeting Tuesday by members of the Senate Budget and Taxation and the House Ways and Means committees, who are considering it as an amendment to a bill that would have authorized betting on “historical” horse races. The amendment would allocate approved, but unclaimed, slots to OTB facilities.

Some lawmakers on the panel asked if the proposal would effectively create mini casinos. But owners of the facilities — Long Shots in Frederick, River Boat on the Potomac and GBoone’s in Boonsboro — said the request was about ensuring the survival of the businesses through cooperation with existing casinos, not by cannibalizing the market.

“The reality is they’re bleeding out, right?” said Sen. Paul D.Corderman (R-Washington and Frederick), lead sponsor of Senate Bill 1240. “So the OTBs and their current model will fail to exist, if not now, but in the near future.”

Corderman estimated the state could lose $10 million if that happened.

“Some of the folks may or may not care about it, but these are locations that are in our communities,” he said. “They support and impact our local citizens and things like that. And they will cease to exist.”

Marta Harding, a lobbyist for MGM National Harbor Casino. (Photo Bryan P. Sears/Maryland Matters)

Corderman proposed to Tuesday’s legislative work group of delegates and senators the transfer of some slot machines from six existing casinos.

Maryland’s casino industry started with five facilities. Voters, in approving adding gambling to the state constitution, approved language assigning up to 15,000 slot machines divided between those facilities. Another 1,500 slots were added when a sixth casino was approved.

But as the industry matured and table games were added, casinos downsized the number of machines on their floors. Currently, the six casinos offier a combined 10,000 machines, according to lottery officials.

Corderman said casinos could license some of the remaining 6,000 that are under the cap to the off-track betting sites.

Under the amendments, the machines could only go to OTBs that also have sports betting licenses. Those facilities must be at least 30 miles from the nearest Maryland casino.

Just three facilities meet those requirements.

Alyse Cohen, owner of Long Shots, estimated she would use up to 500 machines, a number less than the smallest casino in the state. But that number still drew the attention of Senate Budget and Taxation Chair Guy Guzzone (D-Howard) and House Ways and Means Chair Jheanelle Wilkins (D-Montgomery).

“How are we defining casino?” Guzzone asked. “I mean, you envision what 500 machines would look like in a big room, and that kind of feels like a casino to me.”

“I don’t know how others feel … since there’s really no definition of what a casino is. That’s just something that runs through my head,” he said,

Wilkins expressed similar concerns.

“I think we’re in an interesting part of this conversation, because I have not been viewing this as expanding to casino number 7 – 8 – 9 in the state of Maryland,” Wilkins said, adding she viewed it as additional gaming options “to help offset some of the losses that we’re seeing in this particular industry.”

Lobbyists for the casino industry are equally skeptical.

Marta Harding, a lobbyist for MGM National Harbor, told lawmakers her client would consider an authorization of slot machines for off-track sites an expansion of locations beyond what their business model contemplated. Additionally, she said the gambling public appears to be moving away from slot machines.

“Our interests are aligned with the state of Maryland. If the machine is sitting on the floor unused, it’s not making us any money. It’s not making you any money,” she said. “The way the industry has evolved, we have the number of machines on the floor that will be used to generate revenue, and, of course, table games as well.

“We’re trying to maximize revenues for ourselves and for the state. So I think the question of whether they could be leased elsewhere is a much different question,” she said.

Harding noted that the state is also seeing increased competition from new casinos opening in Virginia, what she called the “fastest growing commercial gaming market in the country.”

She and other lobbyists said more study and work is needed to determine if a model that puts slot machines in off-track betting sites would help the industry or would cannibalize the existing market. Lobbyists for other casinos said any study should also include a look at internet gaming.

“Maryland can’t control what Virginia does, but we can control giving ourselves a self-inflicted wound, essentially, by going forward with something before we know,” Harding said.

The amendment to Corderman’s bill is meant to be a lifeline to a struggling industry.

“When we started this in 2015 it was a completely different landscape for the horse racing industry,” said Cohen. “I mean, we had, you know, the numbers were good. We had a lot more racing days than we do now.”

Horse racing days have slowly dwindled. An effort to save thoroughbred racing will ultimately focus racing days on a rebuilt Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore.

Legalizing sports betting — River Boat and Long Shots were awarded licenses in 2021 — was supposed to help. But the games are not as lucrative as slots and other casino style gambling and the lion’s share of sports betting in Maryland is conducted through apps.

“We’re down by 74%,” said Maruthi Prasad, a managing partner of the River Boat on the Potomac.

The facility is unique among those licensed in Maryland. The facility is only accessible by crossing into Virginia. But because it sits in the Potomac River, which is in Maryland, is is subject to Maryland licensing and regulatory requirements.

Prasad estimated his off track betting facility now generates only a fraction of what it had been. “It’s really to the point where we cannot take it, to continue the operation is difficult,” he said.

The proposed amendments are a dramatic change to the original bill.

The initial version called for up to 4,000 historical horse racing machines to be placed in racetracks, off-track betting sites and casinos. The machines in many ways are similar to existing electronic slot machines, but they allow gamblers to wager on anonymized historic horse races from a database of racing data.

Corderman proposed a similar bill last year.

This year’s effort and an identical House version received hearings last month. Since then, both bills have sat in their respective committees and missed a key procedural deadline Monday.

With three weeks remaining, the amendments are an effort to shake the bill loose. Corderman said he hoped it would open a conversation about an agreement between the casinos and off-track betting operators. Even if it should get out of the legislature, any change to gambling would have to go before voters. But Corderman said the conversation needs to start.

“I think no one is insinuating any of these answers are going to be figured out today or next week or into the next two to three weeks,” he said.

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