However, the business community in Maryland is not united in its support for slot-machine gambling in Maryland, nor is organized labor completely united on this issue. Locally, the Annapolis and Anne Arundel County Chamber of Commerce opposes the adoption of slot-machine gambling and other forms of gaming in Maryland. Your local chamber's position is shared by other chambers of commerce and business organizations around Maryland.

Your chamber of commerce believes it is fundamentally wrong to balance the state's budget on a revenue-raising effort that preys upon the frailties of the human condition, is a form of regressive self-taxation, creates documented societal ills and provides questionable long-term financial benefits to Maryland and its citizens.

Furthermore, sufficient due diligence has not occurred to determine: 1) the economic consequences upon the local business communities targeted for expanded gaming; 2) the required upgrading and creation of new public infrastructure to support gaming facilities in the state; and 3) the nature and costs of new regulatory systems important to monitoring and enforcing compliance with state laws governing gambling in Maryland.

Reasonable and rational concerns exist that projected proceeds from expanded gaming in Maryland are grossly overstated when taking into account the true and offsetting costs to the state and its citizens of introducing slot-machine gambling and other forms of gaming in Maryland.

More specifically, your chamber of commerce believes that a sincere and thorough due diligence effort will show that the purported economic benefits of expanding gaming in Maryland will be substantially reduced when factoring in: 1) the cost of infrastructure improvements; 2) the negative consequences of displacement income in local business communities targeted for gaming; 3) the costs of creating and ensuring a workable regulatory effort, 4) the public financial burden of addressing the societal ills that are a proven and natural byproduct of state-supported gambling; and 5) the adverse impact on existing charitable gaming, which exists in all jurisdictions in Maryland.

Furthermore, unlike taxes and fees that have a defined and predictable economic impact on the displacement of disposable income in the economy, the impact of slot-machine gambling and other forms of gaming will only be limited to the extent that gambling interests have a desire to commit marketing dollars to promote their industry. In essence, state-sponsored gambling is a tax on the citizens of Maryland with all of the attendant consequences of other taxes, and those consequences are further magnified by the very real concerns the chamber of commerce has expressed.

Arguments past and present to justify adoption of slot-machine gambling in Maryland also have centered on preserving Maryland's horse-racing industry. The changing dynamics of this line of reasoning in the past several years have weakened the credibility of this contention.

More to the point, the horse-racing industry is in decline around the country and racetracks are being used by gambling interests as transition venues toward slots and other forms of gaming. Last year, the Maryland Jockey Club sold its remaining interests in Maryland racetracks to Magna Entertainment Group of Ontario, Canada; effectively ending local stewardship of Maryland racetracks.

Magna is a public company traded on the NASDAQ. It has lost tens of millions of dollars on its racetrack properties around the country and is lobbying heavily for slots and expanded gaming in Maryland and other states.

If Magna accomplishes its goal of expanded gaming in Maryland, it will eventually transition its Maryland properties to gaming centers, and horse racing in Maryland will become an afterthought. As such, it is disingenuous at best to contend now that adopting slot-machine gambling in Maryland will save and rejuvenate the state's horse-racing industry.

The citizens of Maryland have an important decision to make on this referendum when voting occurs in November of this year; a decision which your chamber of commerce believes should reflect a thorough and complete understanding of the consequences of permitting slot-machine gambling in Maryland.

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Bob Burdon is president and chief executive officer of the Annapolis and Anne Arundel County Chamber of Commerce. Visit the chamber at www.aaaccc.org.