The City of Baltimore wants to divert casino revenues that Maryland voters overwhelmingly earmarked in 2018 for education to instead be used to pay for the reconstruction of the Pimlico Racetrack.
“Crucial to the plan is convincing lawmakers to extend the life of a subsidy for the tracks called the Racetrack Facilities Renewal Account. The state’s casinos each pay a certain percent of their slot machine profits into the fund, which is used for upgrades at the tracks. Backers of this new Pimlico and Laurel proposal want to use that money to help pay off $348 million worth of bonds, to be issued by the stadium authority, that would finance most of the $375.5 million redevelopments.
But casinos are only required to pay the money for 16 years after they open. So, the racetrack renewal money will start running out in 2026 and be gone after 2032. For the plan to work, lawmakers would have to change state law to extend the payments from casinos to cover the 30-year payback of the bonds.” <more>
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