Harness Racing Communications, a division of the USTA

According to a story in the Baltimore Sun, two slots bills introduced in the state legislature earlier this year have virtually no chance of becoming law any time soon, says Maryland’s governor.

Speaking to a radio audience on Saturday, Governor Robert Ehrlich said that House Speaker Michael Busch’s insistence on a slots bill backed by the House of Delegates, will effectively kill the proposal. Ehrlich backs a bill introduced in the Senate and efforts to come up with a comptomise bill have been unsuccessful.

Senate President Mike Miller, who backs slots, was asked on April 9 if he thought the slots bill was finished for the year, “It’s probably so,” he said. The House and Senate have each passed different versions of a bill to bring slots to the state. The Senate plan called for seven unspecified locations, four at racetracks. The House plan involved fewer machines and required competitive bidding to locate them in Anne Arundel, Allegany, Frederick and Hartford counties.