If the numbers from track and casino operations at Wheeling and Chester are any indication, Charles Town’s slot business will drop considerably if and when Maryland approves slot machines.

And Maryland is moving in that direction. Fast.  

The Baltimore Sun reports this week that a referendum on legalizing slots is “closer to approval in the General Assembly than it has been in years.”  The gambling proposal is one of a series of revenue raising plans the Maryland Assembly is considering in special session. 

Maryland is facing a $1.7 billion budget shortfall next year and Gov. Martin O’Malley hopes tax increases along with slot play will bail out the state.

One recent poll indicates slots would pass a statewide vote.  The Washington Post reported Oct. 24 the results of a poll showing “about seven in 10 Maryland residents favor legalized shot-machine gambling.”

Maryland slots would have an impact on Charles Town just as Pennsylvania slots have cut into revenue at West Virginia’s two Northern Panhandle operations. 

Pennsylvania’s slots went on line just a few months ago, but they’re already taking money from West Virginia. The West Virginia Lottery reports slot play at Wheeling Island was off $18 million or 26 percent the first 17 weeks of the fiscal year compared with the same period a year ago.

At Mountaineer Park in Chester slot revenue fell $13 million or 15 percent the first four months of the fiscal year compared with the same period last year. 

Those two North Panhandle tracks, however, now have some insurance for the losses because both have just added table games.  The operators hope those new games will make up for lost revenue.

Charles Town has no such fall back. Jefferson County voters rejected table games last summer. 

The best news for Charles Town operators is that if Maryland approves slots it may take a couple of years to get them up and operating.   Meanwhile, Charles Town can bring the referendum back up, but it must wait until the summer of 2009.

Losing the Maryland business would hit Charles Town hard.  According to one gambling industry report, more than one-third of Charles Town's customers come from Maryland, more than any other state including West Virginia. 

Reportedly Charles Town has already started planning for the election by conducting research to find out exactly what went wrong and how to run a better campaign next time.

 West Virginia’s gambling revenues have been exceeding expectations for years, largely because of a lack of competition.  But as other states have seen the amounts of money involved the competition gets fiercer.