Date: Tue, 25 Sep 2007 19:23:05 -0700
From: "Governor Martin O'Malley" <mom@gov.state.md.us;>
Subject: Budget Update: Recapturing Slots Revenue for Maryland
Today, we visited the Maryland Stallion Station - a horse breeding farm in northern Baltimore County - to underscore our support for slots to protect the more than 600,000 acres of open space used in horse-related agriculture and about 18,000 jobs connected to the horseracing industry.
More than a generation ago, horseracing was popular and profitable. Racetracks were busy places with major traffic problems.
The public has lost interest in watching horses run around in a circle. The racetracks are empty; the traffic backups are gone.
Why should the majority of people of Maryland be expected to reach into their pockets and support an activity in which few are interested?
Bailing out the racing industry means that poor and middle-class Marylanders will be stuck with the bill for subsidies to wealthy racetrack and horse owners, as well as owners of large amounts of valuable real estate.
Would O'Malley have expected us to subsidize the wealthy owners horse and buggy industry when they bet wrong and the future and most people started buying automobiles?
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