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Initially, before all of this went down, Cordish Cos expected to finish the project by December of 2011.  However this whole zoning ordinance case has really put things on hold.  Now the company believes that if they get the go ahead from voters they could reasonably have the venue completely finished by mid 2012.  The venue will open in pats because, Cordish Cos. has big plans.  According to the company, just to get revenue started they have also played around with opening a temporary slots venue while the rest of construction continues on.  The temporary slots venue would take only about 4 months to complete.

The venue, if it is aloud to proceed, will be huge.  The whole facility will be about 215,00 square feet with a 125,000 square foot gambling floor.  The venue will also come complete with fine dining options and and live entertainment venue.

According to Annicelli, when the people of Anne Arundel County approved the referendum that legalized 15,000 slot machines in the state, they never imaged that a casino would be built next to a family friendly mall instead of a horse racing track.  He says that if the casino is not built next to the mall, it will be built elsewhere and the revenue will still come in.

Annicelli is not so much wrong as he is misguided.  The fact that he brings up the shopping mall and the horse racing track in the same sentences, as if it is an either or issues, is completely misguided.  Unless Maryland changes the law in order to show favor to Penn National Gaming the slot machines will never appear at Laurel Park.  On the note of revenue coming in, he is right.  The casino will be built elsewhere and the revenue will come in.  But the casino will likely not be built in Anne Arundel County, it is unlikely that Cordish Cos. will build it, and it is even more unlikely that whatever the new venue is will have 4,750 slot machines.  It will likely be much smaller.

They also have to look at the fact that for the next few years the only casinos operating in the state will be the Hollywood Casino at Perryville and the Ocean Downs venue.  Every other casino has run into impossible delays and the Rocky Gap Lodge venue has not even secured a bidder to operate the venue.

New York also provides an important lesson for the people of Maryland.  The Cordish Cos. casino, with 4,750 slot machines will be the biggest an most lucrative casino in all of Maryland.  This is very similar to the story of the slots venue being built next to the Aqueduct Racetrack in Queens, New York.  If Anne Arundel County, Maryland does not act now their casino project will likely be delayed for a decade or more just like what happend with the Aqueduct venue in New York.

Penn National Gaming is simply saying that they agree with the concerned citizens of Anne Arundel County that slot machines should not be located next to a shopping mall where families go on a daily basis. Therefore they have donated a lot of money to support the No Slots at the Mall group.  Unfortunately it does not stop there.  They have also introduced the idea that the slot machines would be better suited for the Laurel Park racing venue where gambling is already legal and children are not constantly exposed to slot machines.   The problem with that is that they know full well that slot machines will never operate at Laurel Park, unless Maryland changes their gambling laws in their favor.  Penn National Gaming owns Laurel Park and Maryland Law forbids one operator holding more than one slots operator license in the state. They are distracting the people of Anne Arundel County from the truth that the Cordish Cos offer is sort of a now or never type of deal.

That is the situation. Cordish Cos. is also trying to inform people the if the casino is rejected in this round of voting it will be quite some time before the state figures out what to do with that particular casino license.  Likely even years.  One thing is almost certain is that the venue will not be assigned to another location in Anne Arundel County.  So the people that think they are simply on whether they think the slot machines located near the mall need to realize that the real question is whether they want the casino and all of its benefits to be built in their county at all.

“I think those people who are saying now or never are correct,” said Cordish Cos. President David Cordish, who recently went door to door to makes sure people in the community new what was at stake with Question A on the ballot next week.

It is not likely that the state will find another location in Anne Arundel County to build the casino or that they will even give the project to a company as established as Cordish Cos.  The whole issue will likely get tied up in bureaucracy and then eventually given to a company that wants to build a smaller casino, with less slot machines, offering few jobs, and in another county.

The Penn National story does not make any sense.  Laurel Park is owned in part by Penn National Gaming.  Their are laws against gaming operators having more than one casino in Maryland.  They would have to change the laws for Penn National Gaming in order for them to operate slot machines at both Laurel Park and Hollywood Casino at Perryville.  That will likely never happen.

But the truth is, if Cordish Cos. does not win this Question A situation they will likely be stripped of their operating license and the casino project will be thrown into limbo.  The state will have to find another eligible bidder, not Penn National Gaming, to propose a new casino project.  They have not even found a bidder for the Rocky Gap Lodge venue.  It is also unlikely that a new project would bring 4,750 slot machines to the state.

Other than the roughly $30 million dollars that the slot machines are estimated to provide Anne Arundel County in tax revenues, the casino will is also expected to create about 4,000 jobs in the community in order to both build and operate the casino.  David Cordish is trying to explain to the people of Anne Arundel County that if they miss this particular opportunity that it will not likely come around again in the near future.  Cordish is going door to door to make sure as many voters as he can have all the information that they need to make an informed decision on the matter.

The traffic issue seems completely silly.  There is terrible traffic in the Washington, D.C. Metro Area anyway.  In fact the area has the third worse traffic in the entire nation.  Traffic is a problem with infrastructure.  It just means that the roads are not enough to handle the amount of commuters trying to get to and fro.  The answer is not to turn away potential business opportunities in the area, but fix the roads so that it can accommodate the traffic.

4,000 jobs is something that Maryland can really use right now.  It is something that the United States economy can use.  The tax revenue that will come from slot machines is something that both the state and Anne Arundel County could really use right now.  If the people of Anne Arundel County really know what is best for them, they would take a gamble on this casino.  If crime problems arise, cross that bridge when you get to it.

If voters reject the casino, there is no telling what will happen to the venue.  There is even a chance that the license will be rebid and and Cordish Cos. will lose their opportunity.  The company will not just lay down and let that happen.  They are involved in a door to door campaign up until voting day that informs residents of all the financial benefits that will come from the casino.  It also informs them of the various groups in the community that are in support of the gambling venue.  The campaign is being head up by none other than company preident David Cordish.  There is something charming about the president getting in the community, this is a sign of a company that believes in what they are doing and willing to fight for what they want.