News and Commentary on Gambling in Southern Maryland

FBI Now Leading Slot Machine Investigation;

Federal Grand Jury Set to Probe Slots


By Kenneth C. Rossignol

ST. MARY’S TODAY

LEONARDTOWN (May 5, 2008) --- The slot machines seized from the ADF Bingo in New Market during a raid last week was part of a task force action led by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, according to sources; and in addition a Federal Grand Jury probe will begin this week into possible criminal conduct involved with the placement and operation of slot machines in Southern Maryland, while a court ruling on Friday will send slot machines rolling back into town.

Confusing?  This is Maryland and just like the weather, expect anything.

This past Thursday, more than 60 slot machines were seized in New Market and the next day a decision to allow other slot machines to stay and play at Fred’s Liquors was issued by an ethically challenged Circuit Court Judge, who was not challenged for her conflict of interest by a couple of lower level and inexperienced Assistant Attorney Generals.

The action which played out in St. Mary’s Circuit Court on Friday before Judge Karen Abrams was brought by the Alternatives for Youth & Families, Inc.; Center for Children Inc. and Sorrell’s Liquor and Sporting Goods t/a Fred’s Liquors.

The so-called charities, which suddenly began getting some fast bucks from Fred’s Liquors when they began packing slot machines into their corner store on Rt. 5 and Golden Beach Road, when the owner realized he needed some group to shill for him, only got about $63,000 out of more than a half million dollars taken in over the course of four months.

The rest of the money was split between Impact Gaming and Fred’s Liquors, a distribution similar to other corner casinos in St. Mary’s County, which will soon be rolling wide open again thanks to Judge Abram’s ruling.  From this same location, 9 other charities also received funds making the total take from a single corner casino in the millions of dollars.


At the St. Mary’s Landing, machines provided by Frank Moran and Sons, the owner of the restaurant, Billy Hill, disclosed that in a two-week period in February, the five machines he had designated to the Mechanicsville Lions Club was given a check for $3,600.  Of the total take for those machines, $23,000, the balance was split between him and Frank Moran and Sons. The Lions had nothing to do with the accounting of the proceeds, but just acted as shills.  The approximately 40 slot machines in the St. Mary’s Landing had small scraps of paper with hand written notes designating a charity scotch taped to the machines.

At the Brass Rail, a machine which was played as research for news coverage, never once dropped a slip of paper in the bottom as it was played for over a half hour, which is a requirement for being a legal machine.
At Boatman’s Mini Mart casino in Oakville, the owner was reluctant to detail how he paid local charities and how much he paid, finally disclosing that he had donated approximately $1,800 from the 15 machines he had jammed into his liquor store.

The dunderheaded assistant attorney generals who represented the State of Maryland, the Sheriff and the State’s Attorney in the matter, were informed by Judge Abrams that she had been a member of the board of directors of both groups in the past prior to being appointed to the bench of Maryland Governor Parris Glendenning. 

Had the two Maryland attorneys objected, it is unlikely that the other two St. Mary’s Judges would have heard the case due to their own network of potential conflicts and a judge would have had to be brought in from elsewhere in the 7^th Circuit of Maryland, thereby delaying the case for as much as several months and making the entire outcome moot due to a new law taking effect on July 1^st, banning all of these types of slot machines from being installed.

Abrams and the plaintiffs focused on the legalities of what type of gaming devices, winning over the Judge, who showed in a spectacular way her inexperience as a lawyer.  Abrams could have focused on the illegal aspects of the case such as the “charities” which are essentially health providers who primarily provide fat salaries to the staff and soak up tax dollars for counseling services to the needy.

When Abrams ran for election as Judge, her background was not in the courtroom but as a meeting’s lawyer, sitting as counsel for the Board of Education, the Town of Leonardtown and others and her main experience was being married to Court of Special Appeals Judge James Kenney.  But Abrams had the good fortune of being opposed by States Attorney Richard Fritz and the voters showed that they weren’t prepared to put the tainted prosecutor on the bench.

Now the latest turn of the worm will be short-lived.

The law passed by the General Assembly last month during the last hour of the session is expected to be signed by Governor Martin O’Malley.

The Attorney General can file an appeal with the Court of Special Appeals but it is unlikely the appellate courts will move fast enough to prevent the slot machines which were pulled out of St. Mary’s County corner casino bars from quickly returning.

From Boatman’s Casino to St. Mary’s Landing to the Brass Rail, Frank Moran and Sons is expected to let the good times roll once again with local charities such as the Little Flower School, the Mechanicsville Lions Club and the Leonardtown Vol. Fire Department all attempting to scoop up as much blood money as they can prior to July 1^st.

The slot machine vendors who have supplied the machines over the course of the past six months, beginning around Thanksgiving, have routinely taken half of the take with a small amount going to the charities who didn’t mind becoming prostitutes for the shady activities of the gambling companies, who made up the rules of the game on the back of the slot machine delivery trucks, usurping the role of the General Assembly.

Last fall a special session of the General Assembly did two things: raise taxes and put 15,000 slot machines installed at five or more locations in Maryland on this fall’s ballot.   The lawmakers wisely did not let the voters have a say at the tax increases.

Maryland Comptroller Peter Franchot has taken a leadership role in opposing the slot machines coming to town and cites the illegal slot machines in St. Mary’s as an example of the havoc and crime that they create.

"It is my hope that today's ruling is appealed so that local law enforcement can get back to cracking down on this illegal gaming,” Franchot told ST. MARY’S TODAY last Friday.  “Today's development reinforces why we should not enshrine slot machine gaming into our state's constitution this November as it is a regressive tax which breeds crime, corruption and addiction."