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If Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley has it his way the country will soon be looking at a very different Maryland gambling industry.  Maryland has been plagued with a very problematic gambling industry, but much of it was their own fault as the laws written to implement the new industry seemed to get in its own way.  I have often felt that there were quite a few people in the legislature that still had a bad taste in their mouth about legalized gambling in the state since it was banned no so long ago in the 1960s.  So the new laws seemed to make it almost impossible for the state to have a successful gambling industry.  Thankfully, the new bill that Governor O’Malley is attempting to pass takes care of the most curious things in the earliest bill.

One thing I never understood is why Maryland wanted to purchase slot machines themselves instead of giving their casinos the responsibility of doing so.  When the first casinos were being constructed in Maryland there were some legislators that tried to hold up the process by voting against giving over the money to buy new machines.  With that sort of red tape it would have been impossible for the casinos of the state to keep the most current equipment on their casino floors.  If found it despicable anyway that legislators would go after gaming in that way even though the casinos were legalized by popular vote from residents of the state.  Give the people what they want.

It is as if Maryland is growing out of its anxiety teen years and has finally become reasonable.  When the state finally legalized casinos in 2008 there were all sorts of problems with the way they wanted to implement casino gambling.  I suppose no one could really blame them for shooting for the stars, but the demands that the state put on casino operators made if very difficult for the state to find first class operators to run their casinos.  The only casino operator that expressed overwhelming interest in Maryland was Penn National Gaming, but Penn National, third largest casino operator in the country, has gained a reputation of putting up a casino anywhere they are allowed.

There is nothing wrong with asking a lot from your casino operators, that is if you have something to offer them for their hard work.  That was the case at the Aqueduct racetrack because that operator would go on to become the only casino in the World accessible by the New York City public transportation system and would almost certainly make more money than every other casino in the state.  Maryland had nothing like that to offer.  The casinos did not even have table games.  Governor Martin O’Malley is quickly trying to change all that by calling an emergency legislative session to pass a bill that would make several changes to the Maryland gambling industry, including introducing table games to all of the state casinos.  This will help Maryland attract far better casino operators.

Governor Martin O’Malley is actively testing the waters to see if he can get away with calling a special legislative session to pass a bill that would completely overhaul the Maryland gambling system.  When Maryland legalized gambling back in 2008 the program almost immediately ran into a world wind of problems.  While quite a few of those problems were unavoidable as the country fell into an unexpected recession, many of the problems came directly from the lawmakers in the state.  The way they planned on implementing slot machines and the gambling industry in the state were completely unreasonable.  One of the biggest issues was the insanely high tax that Maryland wanted to charge operators for slot machines.

States like Nevada and New Jersey charge their casinos a very low tax rate for games so that the casino venues can reinvest that money in order to build up casinos worthy of attracting tourists.  States like Pennsylvania, only interested in keeping their residents in state have an opposite approach where they charge a lot of money for tax and have very little interest in expanding their resorts.  Maryland took that to a whole different level and charged their casinos 67 percent for slot machine tax.  Needless to say this created a lot of disinterest from the gambling community.  Part of the new bill that O’Malley is trying to force through would be a lowering of the gambling tax in Maryland.  This indicates to me that Maryland is finally getting wise about their casino program.

New Jersey and their plans for Atlantic City are of great interest to me.  I am almost whole hearted against the idea of introducing new casinos to the state outside of the Atlantic City gambling district.   I can almost guarantee that was a idea put forward by proponents of the dated and crumbling horse racing community.  I am in agreement with Governor Chris Christie that the state needs to focus on cleaning up the resort town and building up a tourist area that includes the boardwalk and the the town’s 12 casinos.  Atlantic City is not going to be saved by one or two new casinos, that was made evident by the disappointing performance of new Revel casino.  Getting tourists to come back should be the priority.

Atlantic City already has a lot to work with besides its casinos.  The boardwalks and beaches are as good as any place in the world.  The massive casino resorts also have great live entertainment venues.  What the state should focus on is creating more attractions at Atlantic City.  Whether it be giving the casinos enough of a tax break to make their venues even grander or more lavish, or building an amusement park that overlooks the boardwalk.  Just give people any big gaudy reason to come hang out and I can almost assure you that you will see the casino numbers go back up.  People are not losing interest in the casinos of Atlantic City, people are just losing interest in the town that is Atlantic City.  This can easily be turned around.

The new game that state casinos programs is best described as keep them home.  Pennsylvania really made this game popular when they realized that they were losing millions of potential gambling tax dollars to Atlantic City by not giving their residents a gambling option of their own.  By simply building casinos all around the state, enough to dissuade people from traveling all the way to Atlantic City, they managed to bite off a piece big enough of the Atlantic City market to rank the second most popular casino destination in the country; a title held by Atlantic City ever since it legalized casino gambling.  Now there is talk amongst New Jersey lawmakers of adding more casinos to New Jersey in order to play the same game.  It is at times like this that New Jersey must remember their history and their original game plan.

Atlantic City did not establish their gambling industry with the same game plan as the state that surround it with the intention of keeping their residents in state and charging their casinos a ridiculous amount of money in taxes just to make a profit for the state coffers.  Atlantic City’s business model is similar to that of Las Vegas.  Low taxes on casinos so that the owners can build massive structures that will attract gamblers from the world over.  Atlantic City would surely lose its identity if it were to fall in line with the rest of the casino programs in the region.  Atlantic City is born of different stuff.

I will probably never think like a politician so it is likely that I will never fully understand politicians.  I have ranted and raved about how silly it is when state legislators pass bills that will prop up the horse racing industry.  Typically what happens is that a new gambling law is passed that allows for slot machines and/or table games and somehow the horse racing community, an industry that has not see profits in almost decades, manages to convince the state that they for some reason deserve a share of the revenue.  New Jersey is one of the few state I know that decided to stop giving such an unprofitable business a hand out.  However, now, with the history of all the help offered to the racetracks, there is a sense that people are ready to jump ship on Atlantic City.

While legislators would never come out and say that they are abandoning Atlantic City because it has had a rough couple of years, that is exactly what they are doing when they talk about allowing more casino gambling in the northern part of the state or, even more ridiculous, at horse racing tracks.  How on earth could these people in good conscience help out the horse racing industry for years, then bail on Atlantic City at the first sign of trouble. The least they could do is give the casinos more time to recoup from a double dose of a rough economy and brand new out of state competition.

It was an absolute stroke of genius the way that Old Spice managed to turn around their product image.  I remember when I was a kid.  The Old Spice commercials were all of older men on boats, doing hard work at sea.  Old Spice, because of those ads, and some believe the smell, had a reputation of being an old man’s deodorant.  Within the last few years they have unleashed a brand new advertising campaign that lets people know that Old Spice is not for old men, Old Spice is for real men.  It was such a subtle twist on a negative reputation that has turned the company’s image around.  All of a sudden Old Spice deodorant, same smell and all, is cool to wear.  I have personally witnessed an entire movie theater quiet down to listen to an Old Spice ad before their movie trailers because people have come to love watching them that much.

Atlantic City can do.  What the legislature of New Jersey needs to remember is that Atlantic City is a product.  While Pennsylvania has simply gone for making their casinos easily accessible, Atlantic City is a name brand that people know.  Right now that name brand suffers the reputation of dangerous streets and run down casinos, but it is totally possible to turn the reputation around of any product you can imagine.  Instead of building a new casino, Atlantic City may need to get a few Don Draper types in there to get a new message about the town out to the rest of the country.

Not as many people love the Cost as much as I do.  I am, of course, talking about film star Kevin Costner.  He had quite a few sentimental epics in the 1990s and I love everyone of them.  Very few people can forget the film, Field of Dreams, with the unforgettable whisper that said, “Build it and they will come.”  I have a similar such message for New Jersey that is desperately trying to find a way to outdo Pennsylvania to once again regain its place as the second most popular gambling destination in the United States.   There are all sorts of desperate plans being considered like creating more casinos up north as if `12 casinos in a state are not plenty.  It you ask me it shows a lack of faith.

That is exactly what Field of Dreams was all about: faith.  People are starting to lose faith in the potential of Atlantic City.  New Jersey needs to have faith that the product that they have build over the last several decades can still get people’s attention.  The casinos that New Jersey needs are already build and in place.  What the state needs to do now is just get people back to the resort town.  Even if you draw them in for family oriented reason, it will benefit the casinos as well.  People just need to know the Atlantic City is a safe place to go with a lot of activities for the family. After that the casinos will pretty much take care of themselves.

There were a lot of hopes that the opening of the Revel Casino in Atlantic City would be just the thing to help the vacation resort back on track and turning a profit again.  Instead, this year, Atlantic City saw itself slip to the third most popular gambling destination in the world behind Pennsylvania.  It has been a tough couple of years and while I am sure the Revel must be very nice, I believe it shows as proof that the last thing Atlantic City needs are more casinos.  I believe it even shows that the last thing New Jersey needs are casinos.  There has been a lot of talk about building more casinos in New Jersey to try and gain back the people that they have lost to states like Pennsylvania.  But I believe that will only lead to an over saturation of the gambling market in the state, leaving the existing casinos with very little profit to compete over.

The Revel is a state of the art marvel and it has ranked number 8 among the 12 casinos currently in Atlantic City.  The town has more than enough casinos and so does New Jersey.  Pennsylvania, the stiffest rival to New Jersey, only has 11 casinos.  What New Jersey needs to do is boost the family reputation of Atlantic City and just get people interested in general to return to the town.  With high end casinos like the Revel around, there is no doubt that the casinos of the area are good enough.  You just need the people to come back.

The war continues.  Certainly any state that legalizes gambling is choosing to enter into a very tough industry where each state is trying desperately to steal away the other’s business.  But nowhere is that more evident than in the northeastern part of the United States.  That is probably because the states are so concentrated up there.  For the longest time it was just New Jersey providing the region with full service gambling.  But, now, several states offer either full service casinos or slot machines.  Delaware managed to pull off getting legislation through quickest to legalize online casinos.  This will be a trend that will change gambling in the region in a big way.

With the competition in that region, Delaware’s commitment to online gambling means that all of the other states that have a serious casino gambling program will also have to commit.  It is just simply impossible to compete if one state has online gambling and yours does not.  Online gambling may not draw people away from their home state, but it will certainly keep a lot of them at home. I believe the New Jersey will be the next state in line to legalize online gambling.  They had ambitions of being first.  New Jersey also wanted to be among the state that set trends for online gambling.  I have the feeling Delaware is not so focused on that and is just trying to find a way to remain competitive. Before the year is out, it is likely that no less than two more states will legalize online gambling.