Slots or not? A big decision faces the voters

The $1.4 billion in taxes and fees approved in last fall's legislative special session wasn't enough. Neither were the $500 million or so in budget cuts approved in the just-ended regular session.

Gov. Martin O'Malley's long-term plans for balancing the books rest on the state's voters, who will be asked about seven months from now to approve a referendum clearing the way for up to 15,000 legal slot machines in Maryland, up to 4,250 of them in Anne Arundel County.

Polls keep showing a majority of Marylanders supporting slots, at least for now. But the multibillion-dollar gambling industry knows that such referendums usually...