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When voters Tuesday approved the referendum to bring slot machines to Maryland, Comptroller Peter V.R. Franchot had something more at stake.

"The governorship," said Ronald W. Walters, a political science professor at the University of Maryland, College Park.

Franchot's vocal opposition to the referendum fueled speculation that he could be considering a challenge to Gov. Martin O'Malley (D) in 2010.

It's something the comptroller might have to reconsider after voters approved legalizing slots by a 58.6 percent to 41.4 percent margin.

"It's bad loss for him," Walters said. "It means a lot of people had a chance to vote against him."

O'Malley was the most high-profile public official advocating for the referendum.

Many voters for the constitutional amendment to legalize slots probably were considering the economy and what it has done to erode Maryland's tax revenues, Walters said.

But Franchot the slots opponent likely would come to mind for voters the next time they find Franchot the candidate on the ballot, he said.

Public officials on the opposite side of voters on big issues "suffer politically from their choices," Walters said.

Franchot appeared ready to put his choice behind him at a Board of Public Works meeting Wednesday in Annapolis.

While he said that he remained concerned about the "corrosive" effects slots will have, he urged Marylanders to "refocus our attention on the fiscal problem that confronts our state."

"Whether you were for Question 2 or against Question 2, I hope we can agree that slots are inconsequential to the difficult decisions that must now be made in the upcoming weeks and months," Franchot said.

That is because the state will not see significant revenue from slots until fiscal 2011.

After the meeting, O'Malley took a not-too-subtle dig at the comptroller, who throughout the campaign has accused the governor and Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller Jr. (D-Dist. 27) of Chesapeake Beach of being beholden to gambling interests.

"There will always be those that call the names and ask you to prove that you're not corrupt," O'Malley said. "You know, that's human nature. There'll be people who choose to engage in politics like that."

While Franchot alienated some top Democrats, he won fans "from a lot of different quarters," including fiscal conservatives and some Republicans, for demanding fiscal accountability from Annapolis, said Aaron Meisner, chairman of Stop Slots Maryland.

"He's also been one of the few Democrats who has actually stood up for progressive taxation, for progressive revenue policy," Meisner said.

The House Republican Caucus opposed the slots referendum because they preferred an auction of operator licenses to O'Malley's plan of awarding licenses through a commission appointed by the governor, speaker of the House and Senate president. The Republicans also opposed approving slots through an amendment to the constitution, but most didn't oppose slots as a revenue source.

"The comptroller and I, as minority leader, have very different reasons [for opposing] slots," said Anthony J. O'Donnell, the House minority leader. "I'm in favor of slots, he's opposed to slots."

Still, Franchot has long been a voice of caution on budget matters, said O'Donnell (R-Dist. 29C) of Lusby.

"Comptroller Franchot has been warning the legislature and the governor of the pending fiscal crisis long before the [2007] special session [to resolve a $1.5 billion budget deficit]," he said. "In that regard, yes, they completely ignored him and put the state where it is today."

The dreary budget outlook across the state led leaders in Montgomery County, long a hotbed of anti-slots sentiment, to reconsider their position.

Faced with budget cuts, Montgomery County Executive Isiah Leggett (D) advocated for slots as a fresh revenue source. The county's Democratic Central Committee voted to oppose the referendum.

County voters broke 52.2 percent in favor to 47.7 percent opposed to the referendum.

"You could make the argument that the public officials for it and against it were a wash," said Patrick Gonzales, president of Gonzales Research and Marketing of Annapolis.

As for the hit Franchot's reputation will take among voters after his high-profile role in a losing effort, Gonzales said, "I don't think that's going to have too much of an impact at this point."

Voters could see Franchot as standing on principle, he said. "That's fine, and you move on."

Franchot needs to move quickly to find a political win if he wants to resurrect his image in voters' minds, Walters said.

"He's got to match this [loss] with something else spectacular that he won on," Walters said. "Otherwise, this is going to be the main thing that people remember."

Looking to the political horizon, there might not be another high-profile issue for Franchot to latch onto, Walters said.

"The economic issue is so bad that he's in the wrong place unless he comes up with something," he said.

Meisner sees it differently.

"He's in position to ask some very tough questions as we go forward," he said.

Franchot did not waste any time Wednesday. After his call to move past the slots referendum, he implored O'Malley and Treasurer Nancy K. Kopp (D) to support his Tax Fairness Initiative by approving a contract for a new tax collection system.

Franchot said the computer upgrades, which would cost $87 million and could be on the Board of Public Works' Nov. 19 agenda, will result in the state collecting $200 million in unpaid taxes over the next four years and $80 million to $100 million in each subsequent year.