As election time approaches the nation, the American people go full throttle to elect the next president. Right now, in Maryland, we have some electing to do for our own state. I’m not talking about voting for a new governor, I’m talking about the Gaming Expansion Referendum, also known as Question 7.

It allows casinos in Maryland to host table games, increase the number of slot machines and open a casino in Prince George’s county.

Why? One might ask. For starters, now people will visit Maryland to gamble instead of heading to West Virginia, home to many casinos, to do so. This means Maryland would have more tourists, which makes Maryland more money. The bill would also create thousands of new jobs for construction workers and casino staff once the construction work ends, which would help our unemployed get back to work.

However, Question 7 is supported because the money obtained is said to go to education. Why do they have to throw that in? The referendum says that’s what it will do, but why did they have to add that? All it should be doing is extending the privileges that casinos have. That’s it. When you add the education aspect, it then starts a whole controversy, and every American can admit that, when any topic becomes popular, there will be some sort of controversy. The current dispute is over how much money will go toward education, and whether it will go toward any other programs. Politicians and political elites, like O’Malley, have promised the money will go to the education budget. I believe them, but I don’t believe the newly received money will be used along with the current budget.

Also, casino revenue isn’t spread evenly throughout the state. In Kansas, $300,000 goes to the state, $500,000 is split between the workers and the host county and over $2 million goes to the casino operator. Even if the money went to education, the operator would make so much more.

I’d like to make another point. Proposals like this have happened before and they did what they were supposed to, but found a loophole regarding the money given to education. New York State promoted a lottery by saying that it would create more revenue, which could be used to finance the state’s schools, so people voted for it. It passed and the money was used for education, while the current education budget was used on other programs. Revenue was created, but the new money wasn’t used to increase education spending.

Overall, I hope Question 7 passes because it will bring in more revenue to the state of Maryland, even if all of it doesn’t go to education. We can use the money on other programs and also use some extra to help with our debt. My real question is, is there a good reason for it not to pass?