By Kenneth C. Rossignol

ST. MARY’S TODAY

ANNAPOLIS — The next turn in the twisted tale of how illegal slot machines have taken St. Mary’s County by storm was written by Maryland State Senator Roy Dyson (D. St. Mary’s, Calvert, Charles) on Friday when he introduced a bill into the Maryland General Assembly, in concert with the Attorney General, that will have the entire Maryland legislature require the Attorney General to seek the Circuit Court of St. Mary’s County to issue a declaratory judgment to settle the issue.

Or not.

Dyson’s bill which was introduced after a review of the bill by the Attorney General, puts the previous opinions of assistant attorney generals in abeyance and will request the Court to issue an order "for the purpose of requiring the Attorney General to seek a declaratory judgment in the Circuit Court of St. Mary’s County against for profit or nonprofit organizations that operate certain video gaming devices in the county; providing that the declaratory judgment declare whether the devises are to be consider slot machines for certain purposes and if so, whether a for profit video gaming operator would be in violation of a certain statue and whether the operator would be entitled to establish a nonprofit organization for the devices; authorizing the court to allow a certain person to intervene in the proceeding under certain circumstances; providing for an appeal; requiring that the costs of the proceeding be paid by the State with the approval of the Board of Public Works; and generally relating to a declaratory judgment to be sought by the Attorney General concerning video gaming devices in St. Mary’s County."

"Essentially, I believe that what we have now in St. Mary’s County are slot machines," said Sen. Dyson. "The way they are exploding across the county are causing great harm to our people, to the future of the county in relation to future BRAC proceedings and with about half the people who play the slots being problem gamblers, we are going to be dealing with this problem for a long time to come."

"In addition, these neighborhood casino bars are drying up attendance at our legitimate charitable organizations which operate isolated and occasional bingo or Las Vegas nights which are run properly and result in all of the money spent going to support our fire departments and churches and other bon-fide community organizations," said Sen. Dyson, "not the out-of-town machine suppliers."

Dyson’s bill asks the question: "Are the video gaming devices operated by for profit or non-profit organizations in bars, restaurants, and other establishments in St. Mary’s County to be considered slot machines for the purposes of Title 12, Subtitle 3 of the Criminal Law Article?"

Dyson’s bill also asks the court to decide that if the machines are considered to be slot machines, then are the bars and clubs which are operating the slot machines are considered to be in violation of the law.

Also to be decided by the court is: "If the video gaming devices are considered to be slot machines, would a for profit organization be entitled to establish a nonprofit organization to locate, possess, keep, or operate a slot machine in St. Mary’s County?"

The bill further provides that any person "interested in or affected by the determination of the questions presented to the court in the declaratory judgment proceeding to be instituted in accordance with Section One of this Act, the court may permit the person to intervene in the proceeding as a party plaintiff or defendant on those terms and conditions that are imposed by the court so as not to delay the proceeding."

The Senate Bill also provides that any appeal taken in any decision of the Circuit Court would be sent directly to the Court of Appeals and have "the same force and effect as any other final decision of the Court of Appeals."

Dyson also provided that costs for the proceeding be paid for by the Board of Public Works. While the act will take affect on Oct. 1, 2008, Dyson said that as soon as he hears back from the Attorney General, he plans on amending the bill to move the date up to July 1, 2008.

The outcome of a court decision will rest on which Judge is assigned the case. Given all of the conflicts between so many organizations, bar and neighborhood casino operators have with the three St. Mary’s County judges, it is likely that they will recuse themselves in the matter and a Prince George’s County jurist will be brought in to hear the case.

The issue of approving slot machines is the subject of a referendum question which will be on the ballot this fall.