The Maryland Attorney General's office said Tuesday the addition of year-round off-track betting at the Maryland State Fairgrounds would not be considered an expanded form of legalized gambling that would require approval by state voters in a referendum.
In a letter to state Sen. James Brochin, Assistant Attorney General Kathryn M. Rowe said that a satellite simulcast betting, or off-track betting, "does not constitute an additional form or expansion of commercial gaming for which a referendum would be required" under the state Constitution.
Rowe's letter states that the General Assembly approved satellite simulcast betting in Maryland in 1992 and then expanded it to the state fairgrounds in 1994. No restrictions on the amount of days for the off-track betting at the fairgrounds were placed in the legislation, the letter states.
"In the absence of such language, there is no reason to read it in," Rowe wrote.
Brochin, a Democrat whose 42nd District includes the Timonium fairgrounds site, sent a letter to Maryland Attorney General Brian Frosh on Jan. 28 seeking an opinion of whether an application by the Maryland Jockey Club to the Maryland Racing Commission for an off-track betting parlor in Timonium would require approval from voters.
"I'm not happy about it," Brochin said Tuesday after reading the opinion. "It's unfortunate that you can expand any form of gambling without going through constituents. It renders them without a voice."
The letter from Brochin to Frosh was the latest in an ongoing controversy over the jockey club's efforts to open a year-round off-track betting parlor at the suburban fairgrounds and race track. The jockey club filed its application to install 90 video screens and teller windows in the grandstand there on Dec. 31.
At present, there is OTB at the fairgrounds exclusively during the 10-day Maryland State Fair each August.
Brochin said he is receiving "dozens and dozens" of emails each day from constituents who are concerned about the proposed off-track betting parlor at the state fairgrounds.
A public meeting with the state's nine-member racing commission to discuss the application is scheduled for Feb. 11 at 6 p.m. at the fairgrounds. The commission could vote on the application that night, or wait until it meets again on Feb. 16.
Residents who live nearby are opposed to the efforts to install off-track betting at the fairgrounds year round because they say it will increase traffic and decrease their property values.