Arundel Mills Opponents Vow to Fight for Vote
Opponents of a proposed slots casino at Arundel Mills mall stated that they have collected enough signatures to force a public vote on whether zoning for the facility should be allowed. The group, comprised of anti-slots activists and horse-racing industry representatives, stated that they have submitted 23,702 voter signatures to the Anne Arundel County Board of Elections. To put the measure on the county’s November ballot only 18,970 signatures were needed. Paid petition signature gatherers were used to accrue the 24 thousand signatures. The group faced a Friday deadline to submit the first half of the required signatures, which will then be verified by the Anne Arundel County Board of Elections for several days.
Rob Annicelli, president of the group Stop Slots said, “Without question, there is overwhelming opposition by Anne Arundel County citizens to placing a casino at Arundel Mills Mall. The mall is not the right location for a slots casino and is not in the best interests of the citizens of Anne Arundel County.” A decision was made in December by the Anne Arundel County Council to allow the Cordish companies to build at 4,750 machine casino in the Arundel Mills mall. This casino would be the largest of five facilities authorized by Maryland voters, and this is the decision the group hopes to overturn.
A representative of Cordish said Thursday night that the petition drive was riddled with problems Joe Weinberg, a managing partner for the company said in a statement that “It is our understanding from legal experts in the area of referendum petitions that there were massive irregularities, both legally and procedurally, in this petition drive. This is common when signatures on a petition are gathered primarily by paid workers that are financially incentivized to produce signatures. Upon review, we are confident the referendum will be struck down as both legally invalid and lacking in the requisite valid signatures.” The Stop Slots group has teamed with the Maryland Jockey Club, the operators of Laurel Park, which would prefer the slots license go to the racetrack instead. The state is authorized to award only once license in Anne Arundel, which it has given to Cordish, pending zoning approval.
Tags: Arundel Mills, opponents, vote
