What is Maryland Thinking?

It is no secret that horse racing across the country is in trouble, and some states are in more trouble than others. As more and more tracks add slot machines to bring in clients and supplement their purses, those that are already suffering are suffering more if they are unable to add the slot machines to their lineup as well. Maryland is one of those states.

Well, as if it weren’t enough that they can’t bring in slot machines, now the lottery is taking money from them as well. They have introduced a new lottery game called “Racetrax” that is a video game. The game will be in restaurants, bars, convenience stores, etc. across the state. People who want to bet on horse races can just go to their neighborhood bar to play the game instead of going to the track.

What are they thinking? They are even touting it as it “offering the thrill of being at the track with the payout and prizes similar to live horse betting.” What are the tracks supposed to do now? It is bad enough they are competing with neighboring states and their slot machines, but now they have to compete with the lottery in their own state as well?

Opponents to the slot machines at the tracks say that they would bring crime and a bad element to the tracks. They say that low income families end up paying the price for the tracks to have slot machines. So instead, those low income families can go to the local convenience store and play them there. The state has just made it easier for them to gamble.


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