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No Crime Increase Around Slots6 August 2004MARYLAND -- As reported by the Washington Times: "West Virginia and Delaware have had no significant increase in crime since enacting slots legislation in the mid-1990s. " The states' crime statistics likely will loom large in debates over setting up slot machines in the District and Maryland, where gambling critics have argued that slots breed crime. " Delaware's statistics show decreases in the number of sex offenses, robberies, burglaries and alcohol violations since video-lottery terminals were added to the state's three horse-racing tracks in 1994. "West Virginia, which enacted slots legislation in 1997, has no annual crime survey, but the two police departments covering Charles Town Races & Slots, the state's only horse track, report similar declines in major crimes. "… Maryland Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr., a Republican, has said he is concerned that the state's struggling horse-racing industry will face increased competition from venues in nearby Delaware and West Virginia, which feature slot machines that provide track owners with more money to award larger purses. The out-of-state venues draw $309 million a year in revenue from Maryland gamblers. " In the District yesterday, investors failed to put on the Nov. 2 ballot an initiative that would have placed 3,500 video-lottery terminals in a new entertainment complex on New York Avenue in Northeast. Supporters of the plan vowed to appeal the ruling…" |