Green roofs are growing all across the country, a recent study confirms.
Do you have a green roof? Do any of your neighbors, friends, colleagues or local businesses?
How well is it working?
And what do you think about having plants growing on your roof?
–from Maryland Newsline’s Lindsay Gsell
With Wednesday’s decision to grant a slots license to Ocean Downs on Maryland’s Eastern Shore, a months-long journey came to an end for one of the four qualified bidders for “video lottery terminals” in the state.
While some observers have expressed frustration with the length of this journey, Donald C. Fry, chairman of the Video Lottery Facility Location Commission, disagrees.
“It’s funny, people think it’s been a long process, but it took the legislature a long time to get to this point. I don’t think it necessarily took the commission a long time,” Fry said. “Although this was done in a very thorough and deliberative fashion, it was done in a fairly short period of time.”
But, to echo the words of the 80’s band Talking Heads, how did we get here? What must a bidder do to receive a license? Here’s an overview:
Bidders must have submitted a proposal to the slots commission in February along with the necessary fees — $3 million for every 500 machines requested — as well as present their proposal during a public hearing and site visit.
They also are subjected to a myriad of studies — including traffic, economic viability and potential tax revenue generated — and put through an independent background investigation looking into the personal character of the bidders, their financial stability and how successful they’ll be in running the casino.
If they pass the background investigation (the State Lottery Commission must sign off on a bidder before they move forward), the slots commission takes these studies into consideration and makes a decision. They do this based mostly on the projected financial success of the slots parlor (70 percent), with less weight given to jobs created (15 percent) and the positive/negative aspects of the location (15 percent).
There’s much more that goes into the process, but based on the volume of testimony and reports created by the Ocean Downs bid, a great deal of time and energy is being spent on these proposals. The commission’s next meeting is Oct. 7.
- By Capital News Service’s Bobby McMahon
High above Route 50 she reclines, sporting a come-hither look and a revealing referee’s uniform. Like the mythical sirens luring sailors toward the rocks with their songs, she tries to entice eastbound drivers with the promise of excitement not found in Maryland.
She is a billboard advertisement from Dover Downs Hotel and Casino, and she has a simple message: “Sports Betting is Coming!” In fact, it’s already here.
As the Video Lottery Facility Location Commission begins deciding on bids this week, the future success of slots could be affected not only by what happens within Maryland, but also by what happens right next door.
Delaware recently began offering limited sports betting (by law, casinos can only offer three game parlays on NFL games), and elected officials in both Pennsylvania and Delaware are considering offering table games like blackjack and roulette in the near future.
But Buddy Roogow, director of the Maryland Lottery, says the new slots parlors will not be adversely affected if states around Maryland begin offering table games. He referenced studies that show slots as the main draw for casino gamers, and said table games and sports betting won’t lure Marylanders over the border.
“I believe that Marylanders who go to casinos in other states will be more likely to stay in Maryland once it opens its facilities,” he says. “That’s independent of whether or not those out of state facilities have sports books or table games.”
–by Capital News Service’s Bobby McMahon