Governor O'Malley a Penn Gaming Patsy?

The recipients of some emergency corporate welfare spent millions on a referendum to stop a casino in Anne Arundel and protect their Charlestown casino.
A reverse procedure is happening in the South as described in the following analyst transcript excerpt from Penn Gaming. If Governor O'Malley would just substitute the word "Texas" with "Maryland" , the Governor may understand the kind of patsy he has been played.


"Steven Wieczynski - Stifel, Nicolaus & Co., Inc.
So going back to Texas, a follow-up there. I guess, it's pretty interesting that you guys said that polling is pretty favorable, but your competitors who are building assets in Louisiana say it's still negative. So I guess, the question is, if this does go to a referendum at some point, now what -- how do you guys feel about the potential of the passage, especially going into a year whether it's '11 or '13 where it's going to be a non-presidential year?
Peter Carlino
Well, first kind of a fun one. I got to stick my nose on that one. You would expect nothing less from what you described as our competitors in Louisiana. The pollings are pretty clear and Eric will speak to that, that the voters in Texas would strongly support this. The trick of course is get the legislature to step up and give them that opportunity. Eric, why don't you take a whack at that please?


Eric Schippers
Yes, I was going to say when you look at our polling, which we've done a extensive amount of polling, the strongest question that moves the needle is, "How do you feel about the neighboring states continuing to benefit from the revenues of Texas gamers as opposed to saving the money here for the benefit of our state?" And so, we have pointed out to every legislature we can in Texas that Dan Lees [ph] $400 million project was approved right on the border and they're continuing to sort of thumb their nose at you in Texas thinking that you can't pass this. And frankly, that has gotten a lot of attention from legislators who otherwise may not be looking at this as a potential piece of an overall budget solution. There is a lot of pride in Texas as you may be aware. So we're hopeful that as they look at and understand the benefit other states are receiving from Texas dollars flooding across the border, they'll kind of get the joke as we say and pass this thing. Once we get to the balance, there is an overwhelming amount of people, and both Republican, Democrat, tea party, cuts across all different political stripes who want: A, the chance to vote on this; and B are okay with slots at the racetracks, because it's not an expansion of the current footprint of gaming in Texas. And we think that's an important part of the solution this time around as opposed to more expansive efforts that others are espousing."

From the same transcript, the makeup of the West Virginia Charlestown Casino customer is described:
" I think there's roughly 33% of our customers are from Maryland, "