Penn Gaming explores slots at Laurel

[takeout]

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/annearundel/bal-md.slots02jun02002016,0,7795430.story

Down close to the end is says:
[snip]
DeFrancis stands to gain if slots come to Laurel, because of a profit-sharing deal he negotiated when selling the track to Magna.
[snip]

Comment: I would think the DeFrancis slot deal with Magna would be out the window with a sale of the track, but evidently not. ?? Who would purchase Lrl to put slots in knowing that more than half the profit is going to go to DeFrancis? That would be as dumb as what Magna did, wouldn't it? I don't get it. ???

PS: I hope I haven’t answered my own question. :eek: :(

[MzDucat]

My understanding is that their state's current law allows only one casino in a given county. Because the mall site put up the money and put in for it first it is pretty much a done deal.

Your kid may want a cookie, but if another kid is already eating the only one....

[takeout]

My understanding is that their state's current law allows only one casino in a given county.Looks like Penn Gaming is trying to get around that. Anyone remember how crooked it got last time Maryland had slots? Looks like it’s already that way again and they don't even have them yet!

editorial: Laurel casino talk is premature
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/opinion/editorial/bal-ed.slots03jun03,0,5745697.story

[snip]
Maryland's gambling law prohibits a company from having an ownership stake in more than one slots license, but Penn National officials say they're looking for a way around that - perhaps by managing the casino there but having some other entity own the license.
[snip]
Powerful interests in the state, including Gov. Martin O'Malley and Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller, openly expressed their preference for slots at Laurel well before any bids were submitted. Add the fact that Joseph DeFrancis, the politically connected former owner of the Maryland Jockey Club, would stand to gain millions if slots come to Laurel, and you have a recipe for at least the perception that the process for awarding slots licenses is not completely fair and transparent.
[snip]

Comment: I still want to know how/why that DeFrancis deal stays in place in light of Magna's chapter 11, and who in their right mind (other than DeFrancis or someone allied with him) would want the place with that insane slots deal hanging over their head? This smells like Penn Gaming and DeFrancis may now be in bed together. Please say it ain’t so!!!!!!!

[cj's dad]

In Maryland, anything goes- it's a one party bureaucracy.