Hot news

Dublinbet

Dublinbet

DublinBet.com is an innovative and classy casino and card room. It offers classic online casino game favourites plus some of the best live dealer games on the net for January 2012.

Through the latest webcasting technology you can interact with dealers from the privacy of your home (or office!). The sounds and dealer action is live from the Fitzwilliam Card Club and Casino, in Dublin Ireland. DublinBet's Distance Gaming® is a 'must try even if you're not fussed for live dealer games - try the unique early payout

+ More info...

888

888

Do you find it hard to get to a live casino to play poker? Then simply come to 888poker, the best poker online room in Australia and experience the same thing with no hassle.888 Casino is one of the most famous casinos in cyberspace, thanks to some of the most eye-catching promotions in the industry and an ongoing commitment to innovation. Owned and operated by a subsidiary of 888 Holdings plc, which is listed on the London Stock Exchange, 888 Casino was launched in 1997 and more than 25 million people have played here since.

+ More info...

365 Casino

365 Casino

Enjoy a huge selection of casino games at 365 Casino with monthly bonuses and weekly promotions, Play Blackjack, Roulette, Baccarat, Slots, and Video Poker and win big at 365 casino. 24hrs a day, 365 days a year Safe & secure with excellent Customer Service.

+ More info...

Elegance Casino

Smart Live Casino

The unique thing about Smart Live Casino is its live casino games. It offers live baccarat, live roulette and live blackjack where the player sees the dealer and the action unfold infront of his own eyes. They have a fully array of games as well as sports betting. The site also comes in a variety of languages.

+ More info...

Md. House panel lowers taxes for 2 casino sites

E-mail Print PDF
Md. House panel lowers taxes for 2 casino sites
ANNAPOLIS, Md. — A Maryland House of Delegates committee voted 13-7 on Monday night to expand gambling in the state to allow table games such as blackjack and a Washington-area casino, setting up a vote by the full House on Tuesday.

The vote came after the panel changed the measure to lower the amount of taxes that two casinos — an existing one in Anne Arundel County and a planned complex in Baltimore — would have to pay. The move is aimed at offsetting the economic impact of competition from a future new casino near the nation's capital.

All 13 supporters on the Ways and Means Committee were Democrats. Six Republicans and one Democrat opposed the gambling expansion.

Supporters said the state stands to net more than $200 million annually after full implementation, and they touted a new Prince George's County casino as a prime location to draw money from both Washington and neighboring Virginia.

"This is a smart move geographically-speaking for the state of Maryland," said Delegate Kumar Barve, D-Montgomery.

Opponents said the decision was being rushed in a special summer session with insufficient data to understand how the new casino would affect others in the state. The expansion would require voter approval, and Republican Delegate Kathy Afzali of Frederick said the rush could erode support at the ballot box in November.

"I would just like to say in closing that rushing this through could be the death of this bill," she said near the end of a late voting session.

The committee's vote sends the bill to the full House of Delegates, which will take up the measure on Tuesday and push toward a close of the special session that began on Thursday. It's unclear whether the session could conclude Tuesday night.

The Senate already has passed a bill, and senators would have to approve changes made by the House for the measure to pass.

One of the biggest changes made by the House panel relates to lowering the tax rate for the new Maryland Live! casino in Anne Arundel County — the state's largest casino. The tax rate would also be cut for a planned casino in Baltimore, where Caesars Entertainment has secured a license to build a casino near Oriole Park at Camden Yards and M&T Bank Stadium, home of the Baltimore Ravens.

Under the Senate bill, the two casinos would have paid 5 percent less in state taxes, with the rebate set aside for advertising and capital improvements. The House committee, however, lowered that to 8 percent less for Maryland Live! and 7 percent less for the Caesars casino. Supporters say the change was made to offset added competition from the Prince George's County casino, which could be at National Harbor along the Potomac River. MGM Resorts International has expressed interest in building a casino there.

Maryland now has a 67 percent tax rate on slot machine proceeds, an unusually high amount.

In effect, the changes represent an advance on an additional 5-percent tax cut the two casinos could have requested later. Under the change, Maryland Live! could still ask for an additional 2-percent tax cut later, and the Baltimore casino could ask for a 3-percent reduction. The cuts would have to be approved by a state commission.

In addition, Maryland Live! would get an added tax advantage. If the casino takes over ownership of slot machines there, it would have its tax rate reduced 8 percent more, instead of 6 percent provided in the Senate measure. Other larger casinos in the state would be able to get a 6 percent reduction for taking on ownership of the machines.

Supporters said Maryland Live! would get more, because the Cordish Cos., which owns the casino, can't get slot machines as cheaply as the other larger casinos in the state, which are owned by companies with casinos in other parts of the country, like MGM, Caesars and Penn National Gaming, which owns the casino in Perryville.

Read more http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=t&fd=R&usg=AFQjCNF5X8-zD5z4JagWSOKzXXIf0PHcVg&url=http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-505245_162-57492717/md-house-panel-lowers-taxes-for-2-casino-sites/

You are here