Clergy lobbies against slots

Referendum could result in the gambling machines coming to Laurel Park

McGhee is president of the Laurel Clergy Association, which is opposed to slots gambling at Laurel Park, a racecourse on Route 198 in Laurel. The association plans to speak out at this week’s special session of the General Assembly, called by Gov. Martin O’Malley to consider measures to eliminate the state’s $1.7 billion deficit. Under the governor’s plan, slots would come to Laurel Park and four other venues in the state.

A number of anti-slots activists plan to go to Annapolis on Friday for hearings, with one group—Stop Slots—even having a paid lobbyist, McGhee said.

McGhee would not be there because of a scheduling conflict, but others would represent the association.

‘‘Definitely I will be submitting my written testimony,” he said.

Included in that testimony will be the points of an anti-slots resolution that the clergy association has unanimously passed for the fifth consecutive year. Eighteen clergymen and women, out of about 30 in the group, have signed the resolution so far, and the list is growing.

‘‘The moral argument isn’t that gambling is wrong,” McGhee said. ‘‘The moral argument is taking money from poor people this way is wrong.”

The other members of the clergy association agree.

‘‘Casino gambling is not a fair game,” said Perry Ianaconi, deacon at St. Nicholas Catholic Church. ‘‘The casino always takes a cut.”

Another association member, Andrea Capuyan of the Laurel Pregnancy Center, said she was worried slots would bring an increase in crime, poverty and other problems that would further inhibit her clients in crisis situations from caring for their families.

‘‘We see it as a direct threat to the people of the Laurel community,” she said.

Residents and politicians alike acknowledge that the prospect of a slots bill is not just a state issue, but a local one for Laurel residents.

‘‘The Laurel racetrack is one of the most likely locations,” Sen. Jim Rosapepe (D-Dist. 1) of College Park told a group of residents during Laurel Mayor Craig Moe’s Oct. 24 town hall meeting.

At the meeting, Rosapepe asked who was for and against a slots bill. The room was almost evenly split, as it was during a West Laurel Civic Association meeting a week earlier. But Rosapepe asked a third question at that meeting: Who didn’t care one way or another, and some residents raised their hands.

‘‘There are really three positions,” he said. ‘‘A number of people don’t care.”

But McGhee and fellow clergymen in the association are not of that group. For any pro-slots argument, McGhee already has a counterpoint researched against it.

He cites University of Maryland and federal studies that say introducing slots brings an increase in gambling addiction in a 30-mile radius. Another study found one in five gambling addicts commits suicide.

Pro-slot proponents, like those from the Maryland Jockey Club, deny the validity of such studies and cite another study by Maryland secretary of labor, licensing and regulation that found slots did not bring an increase in crime.

‘‘It doesn’t bring any additional crime in; it renews the economies in the area,” said club president Lou Raffetto. ‘‘The people who play slots are mostly middle class and [use slots] for entertainment.”

Any slots bill is likely to include funds to help gambling addicts and address other potential problems that slots could bring, Rosapepe said. If the bill ‘‘is going to protect Laurel,” he said he could vote for it, although he said it’s likely to pass the Senate if it gets there.

But members of the clergy association say they are not satisfied with the proposed compromise to help gambling addicts and to funnel some of the gambling profits to communities near Laurel Park.

‘‘We’d rather not have the money. We’d rather the people be OK,” McGhee said.

And although they’re working against a slots bill, local clergy also acknowledge their role in the community if the outcome isn’t what they had hoped.

‘‘On the other side of it, we’re here, and the churches are going to be here whether this thing gets passed, and we’ll have to mop up the mess,” Peter DeMic, associate pastor at Our Savior Lutheran Church said. ‘‘But if we have the possibility to avoid the mess, then we’re going to work for that.”

E-mail Elahe Izadi ateizadi@gazette.net.