Slots foes take fight to voters

Nine months out, activity begins in earnest

‘‘We think that with the way the presidential race has gone will work very well for us,” said Aaron W. Meisner, chairman of StopSlotsMaryland, which has fought the legalization of the machines with success for about five years. ‘‘We’re going to get to talk to a lot of people.”

Volunteers will attempt to persuade voters to donate money to the anti-slots movement or get them to commit to opposing the referendum, he said. The outreach will be in full force on the lower Eastern Shore, Anne Arundel County and Western Maryland, three of the five proposed areas where slot machines would be placed if the referendum passes.

The General Assembly agreed during the November special session to let voters decide whether to allow 15,000 slots terminals statewide. The other slots parlors would be located in Cecil County and Baltimore.

Officials estimate it would generate up to $700 million a year for the state.

The battle is far from over. Slots opponents have vowed to defeat the measure and have hired several big-name operatives to craft their campaign. Scott Arceneaux, who led the gubernatorial campaign of Douglas M. Duncan in 2006, and Martin Hamburger, a media consultant who worked on the 2006 campaign of U.S. Sen. Benjamin L. Cardin (D) of Pikesville, were brought on board last month to lead the anti-slots campaign.

They will likely have their hands full. Other states that had ballot initiatives to legalize gambling saw slots supporters far outspend their rivals. The gaming industry spent more than $1.3 million on lobbying efforts in Annapolis between Nov. 1, 2006 and Oct. 31, 2007, according to data from the state ethics commission.

Some of Annapolis’ biggest lobbying shops represent clients with a stake in the referendum’s outcome: racetrack owners, slot machine vendors or potential gaming hall operators.

IGT, a manufacturer of slot machines based in Las Vegas, and the Maryland Jockey Club have been longtime clients of Rifkin, Livingston, Levitan & Silver LLC, which boasts two of the three highest earning lobbyists.

The Laurel Racing Association spent almost $400,000 on lobbying in the past cycle, while the corporation that owns Allegany Racing LLC and Ocean Downs Racetrack spent more than $214,000. The slots plan passed in November virtually guarantees a slots parlor will be located at Laurel Park in Anne Arundel County and Ocean Downs on the Eastern Shore.

But the pro-slots movement has been quiet since the referendum passed, although they are thought to be building a game plan behind the scenes.

‘‘I think this will be a coalition literally of hundreds and hundreds of people and organizations,” said Gerard E. Evans, a lobbyist who represents the Maryland Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Association, which paid its lobbyists just under $200,000 in the past 12-month cycle.

The passage of slots should be a priority for average taxpayers who could face higher taxes or deep cuts to programs if the referendum fails, said Gary R. Alexander, a lobbyist who does not have any direct ties to slots operators.

‘‘I think all our clients, from our smallest nonprofit to our biggest [corporation], are thinking about the referendum and wondering what happens if the bottom falls out and what happens with the budget down the road,” he said. ‘‘It’s not just the gambling community or slots people or the horse racing [community], this is going to have a widespread effect on funding across the board.”

Others expect the slots campaign to explode after the General Assembly adjourns in April.

‘‘Right now, people have other fish to fry, but the day after Sine Die, it will be topic No. 1,” said Sean Dobson, executive director of Progressive Maryland, which has not taken a position on the referendum.

The anti-slots crowd is confident they will prevail. In other states, public support toward slots have decreased as the referendum gets closer, said W. Minor Carter, a lobbyist who represents StopSlotsMaryland. ‘‘In every campaign, even if they win, the high point of their polling has been at the beginning.”

The key to their campaign, he said, is raising enough money to last through November.

‘‘This is the point at which we are really demonstrating that we are changing our footing from being a grassroots lobbying effort to a grassroots campaign,” echoed Meisner.