Maryland lawmakers have been meeting to hash out the terms of a potential special legislative session to address a tax package, and while Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake is not officially part of that discussion she has made her opinion known: she wants the special session to address the gaming bill (or as Gov. Martin O’Malley calls it, the “silly bomb”) that gummed up the General Assembly’s works at the end of the regular session, though the mayor agrees that the budget shortfall should be fixed first.
Now, Maryland is already getting slots parlors, including one in Baltimore City (which I have a feeling may end up being operated by Caesars Entertainment). The current gambling bill would allow those locations to add table games (for customers who get sick of seeing their cash amount decline on a boring old video screen and prefer to lose their money in a more hands-on way).
political cynicism aside, “table games” means poker, and poker rules! It’s an actual game that involves actual skill (skill I don’t have, but still). Also, if you stick to tournaments there’s a cap on how much money you can lose (which is good for me — I once sat down at a very low-stakes live poker table and lost $50 in 10 minutes).
If Baltimore’s casino ends up offering poker, I will absolutely go and play. Maybe you’ll see me there. I’ll be the guy with sunglasses over regular glasses bluffing every hand.
