This story was updated at 1:25 p.m. Feb. 17, 2012.

Following an announcement this week from Prince George’s County Executive Rushern L. Baker III (D) that he’ll push for a billion-dollar casino gaming facility at National Harbor, representatives from nearby Rosecroft Raceway are hoping Baker reconsiders his decision and backs Rosecroft in their bid to bring slots and table games to their own facility in Fort Washington.

“[Baker] has been silent on this, and it’s unfortunate that he’s chosen one location over the other when we’re designed for it. We’re already a gambling facility,” said Karen Bailey, spokeswoman for Rosecroft owner Penn National Gaming Inc., noting they plan to continue to build a convincing argument and ask Baker to reconsider.

Maryland Senate Bill 892 is the legislation proposing to add a sixth slot machine location to the state, in Prince George’s County. Additionally, state Senate Bill 26 calls for allowing table games to be added to each of the state’s slots sites. If the slots bill is passed, the decision would go to Maryland voters as a referendum on the November ballot.

Scott Peterson, spokesman for Baker, said infrastructure costs as well as the proximity to existing established neighborhoods are what led Baker to call for a major casino project at National Harbor.

“This is his concept of accepting gaming into the county,” Peterson said. “The county executive was asked for his opinion on gaming in the county and he has made definitive position that if gaming comes, he wants to see it at National Harbor in the form of a billion-dollar facility.”

Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller Jr. (D-Dist. 27) of Chesapeake Beach said Friday he thought Baker’s proposal was a good first step, but believes keeping two site options open — National Harbor and Rosecroft Raceway — makes more sense at this point.

Having just one bidder can mean that “all of the sudden the numbers change on you,” Miller said. “There’s nobody vying, nobody competing.”

Both sites have different strengths and appeal to a different clientele, Miller said, noting the Rosecroft site would support live racing, employing jockeys, trainers and other racing-related jobs.

Slots were still a logical source of revenue to help pay for a proposed $600 million regional hospital center in Prince George’s, Miller said. Baker is opposed to linking funds for the hospital to slots revenue.

Prince George’s House Delegation Chair Melony Griffith (D-Dist. 25) of Upper Marlboro, who opposes slots, said Friday that Baker made a “very strong case” for the need for additional revenue for education, nonprofits and public safety.

But Griffith made it clear she had not had a chance to closely compare Baker’s plan with proposed legislation.

“It’s hard to take pieces of a concept out of context and make a decision about their viability,” Griffith said “If I had to vote today, as I’ve said before, I would have to vote ‘no,’” she said, adding that since she didn’t have to vote immediately, she would continue to gather information.

About eight residents from Forest Heights and Oxon Hill came to the Forest Heights municipal building Thursday evening to hear from Penn National representatives and ask questions about their plans for casino games if Maryland’s sixth slots site is approved for Prince George’s County.

The meeting had already been planned before Baker’s announcement of his support for slots at National Harbor.

Bailey presented a detailed plan for a full renovation to Rosecroft if a slots location in the county is approved and if their site is selected.

Bailey said Rosecroft is the better site for casino games since they are already in the gambling industry as a racetrack and casino games are what can revive the horse racing industry in the state.

Penn National purchased Rosecroft out of bankruptcy in February 2011. The raceway began holding live horse racing in October 2011, but Bailey said in order for Rosecroft to continue they need to have casino gaming.

She said if chosen as the sixth site, Penn National’s plan is to put $300 million into a new complex, new track, new infrastructure, gaming tables and 4,750 slot machines, which is the amount legislation would allow.

“It’s in the process now. We’re just trying to get the legislation passed just to take a shot at this,” Bailey said.

She said adding casino games to their nearly 100-acre site would create 2,980 new jobs in addition to 4,600 construction jobs, and would generate nearly $40 million in new tax revenue for Prince George’s County.

One resident who attended Thursday’s meeting, Sherletta Hawkins of Forest Heights, whose home is about 3 miles from both Rosecroft Raceway in Fort Washington and National Harbor in Oxon Hill, said she fears that if slots and table games are put in either location, crime will increase, traffic will become congested and those who make few dollars as is will gamble it away.

“People are going to take their last dollar. They’re going to take their mortgage and put it into slot machines,” Hawkins said. “Slot machines were not made for people to make money.”

Calvin Washington, a Forest Heights resident, said he is for adding casino games to Rosecroft if it means for funding for schools and more jobs.

“If money is going toward education, I’m for it,” he said. “Casinos in Delaware and West Virginia take money and put it into schools. That’s something that we should have been doing a long time ago. People will start to come here from [Washington] D.C., Virginia and Delaware.”

Under current state law, 48 percent of the revenues from slots are put toward education.

Bailey said they will also conduct a traffic study to determine traffic impacts if gaming comes to their site. She noted that Penn National will “foot the bill” of all infrastructure projects that may be needed as renovations take place and would not call on county or state funds to complete the project.

Forest Heights Mayor Jacqueline Goodall, who organized Thursday’s community meeting, said it’s important to start the discussions between residents and Penn National before a vote determines more slots in Prince George’s.

“It’s coming. Either here or there, it’s coming,” Goodall said in terms of the two slot locations in question. “You need to be talking to our senators and delegates because as residents, you’re impacted by this.”

djgross@gazette.net

Staff Writer Daniel Leaderman contributed to this report.