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Montgomery County Executive Isiah Leggett (D) affirmed his support for the slots on Thursday in a statement announcing that he will vote for the referendum in November.

"Due to a lack of other viable options, the certain impact of cuts on the poorest and most vulnerable in Montgomery County and throughout the state, and the need for additional resources for education, transportation, public safety and human services — reluctantly, I will cast my vote for the ballot measure," Leggett wrote in the statement.

Leggett's announcement comes after months of speculation about the executive's position that leaned more toward supporting the referendum. Leggett has repeatedly said the current economy — affected by a faltering housing market, sagging tax revenues and high energy prices — have left state and county leaders with few options to balance their budgets aside from major cuts.

"… I believe such cuts would especially impact the poorest and most vulnerable in our midst," Leggett wrote. "If protecting those families requires revenue from slots — in the absence of other viable alternatives to budget cuts — then I believe a vote in favor of slots is the preferable position to take."

If approved in November, 15,000 slot machines will be located at five locations in Allegany, Anne Arundel, Cecil and Worcester counties and Baltimore city. The machines are expected to generate about $700 million a year in revenue for the state, money that slots supporters — including Gov. Martin O'Malley (D) — say will help pay for citizen services and continue paying for counties' teacher pension costs.

The state would experience its first significant revenue in fiscal 2011, which begins in July 2010. Although the revenues would not be available to help plug the state's $1 billion deficit and the county's $250 million gap next year, supporters say slots could prevent these types of future shortfalls.

"Leadership is about making hard choices — sometimes among lesser evils ... In an ideal world, state and local governments should not be dependent on such revenues to help fund critical programs. Unfortunately we do not now live in that ideal world," Leggett said.

Leggett's support contrasts his previous long-held opposition to slots, as well as State Comptroller Peter V. R. Franchot and at least four County Council members and a number of the county's state lawmakers who held an anti-slots rally in Rockville last week.

"While I have great respect and admiration for my friend, Ike Leggett, we fundamentally disagree on this issue. Slot machine gambling is wrong for Maryland and wrong for Montgomery County. Slots will not solve our budget problems; they will only make them worse," said Franchot (D) in a statement responding to Leggett's announcement.

The Board of Regents of the University of Maryland and the Maryland Association of Counties are supporting the referendum.

In a survey conducted by Gonzales Research and Marketing Strategies in early September, support for the referendum dropped five percentage points to 49 percent, from a January poll.