Executives at the Pennsylvania-based gaming company are counting on voters in Anne Arundel to defeat the Cordish Cos.' plans to build a casino at Arundel Mills in next month's referendum. They are also counting on Maryland to reopen the bidding process for the slots license there. The referendum asks voters whether a zoning bill passed by the County Council to allow the mall project should stand.
"The governor has made very clear that he believes that slots belong at Laurel, so that we are pretty confident that following a defeat of the effort to put the slots where they don't belong, that [the] state will move very swiftly to start a new process," Penn National's chairman and chief executive, Peter Carlino, said during a conference call with analysts to discuss the company's third-quarter earnings.
But the chairman of the location commission that awards slots licenses said Thursday that the Cordish Cos.' license would remain intact if the zoning were rejected at referendum. Donald Fry said the issue would revert to the county. The developer would have to go back to the County Council to seek new zoning permission, either for Arundel Mills or another site.
David S. Cordish, president of the Cordish Cos., has said that he prefers putting a casino at Arundel Mills and is dedicated to that venue, but that he would consider other options if the referendum failed.
Joe Weinberg, a vice president at the Cordish Cos., said in an e-mail that the referendum means "no zoning in Anne Arundel County for slots anywhere and the reality that Anne Arundel will never have slots.
"Contrary to Penn's fantasies, what the state wants is for its carefully thought-out decision to award the Anne Arundel license to Cordish at Arundel Mills to be implemented without further interference from out-of-state interests," Weinberg said.
Penn National, which co-owns Laurel Park racetrack with the Maryland Jockey Club, has been supporting a campaign against Cordish's plans for a $1 billion casino and entertainment complex.
State law does not allow a company to hold more than one slots license. Besides divesting itself of the Perryville casino, the facility's ownership or management could be restructured, said Eric Schippers, Penn National's senior vice president for public affairs. Any transfer of Perryville's license would require state approval.
If the license bidding process is reopened, the Jockey Club would be ready to file an application immediately while Penn National would address the license ownership issue, Schippers said.
"Both could move on swift parallel tracks," Schippers said.
Schippers said it would be "highly unlikely" for the County Council to approve another zoning measure for slots at Arundel Mills if voters defeated the referendum.
Laurel Park would also need zoning approval for a casino. Penn National executives said they were prepared to move immediately on its plans once it got permission.
"We would indeed be in the position to deliver on the jobs and revenue faster than Cordish,"
Schippers said. "Traffic studies have been done at Laurel, [and] there is already an existing grandstand to use to temporarily house the slot machines while we build out the permanent facility, given we have a proven track record at Perryville. At record time we developed the casino."
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