Baltimore casino sparks interest from at least 4 groups

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The right to build what would be Maryland’s second-largest casino has sparked interest in diverse gaming companies across the United States and Canada.

Those that have taken steps to pursue the sole gaming license in Baltimore include a company owned by the Chickasaw tribe of Oklahoma, a Missouri-based casino owner, a Canadian equity firm and a fledgling development outfit based out of a downtown Baltimore law firm.

Proposals answering the state’s 134-page solicitation published April 29 are due July 28.

“A number of companies have expressed serious interest in Baltimore City and have asked me about the process and the timing,” said Donald C. Fry, chairman of the Video Lottery Facility Location Commission, which will choose the winning bidder. “Whether or not all of those companies … ever submit a proposal, we’ll have to see.”

Fry said discussions were only preliminary because they came before a Baltimore Board of Estimates vote on April 27 that created a framework for the eventual deal between the city and winning casino developer.

City and state officials hope that action, which laid out minimum tax and ground rent rates and the properties available south of M&T Bank Stadium, will speed the process of finding a new developer.

But the city’s deal also effectively raised the tax rate on the casino to nearly 70 percent, among the highest in the nation. The state takes 67 percent of gaming revenue, and the city will collect another 2.99 percent as ground rent.

“I think that’s certainly a factor the companies are going to be looking at,” Fry said.

But, he said, the site is in a larger population center than any other potential casino location in the state, and will benefit from its proximity to attractions like the city’s professional sports stadiums, the Inner Harbor and the Baltimore Convention Center.

State fiscal analysts in 2007 estimated Baltimore’s casino would generate $265 million in its first year of operation and $426.7 million the year after.

Charm City Development and Gaming, led by Hassan Murphy, managing partner of the Murphy PA law firm, was formed in November 2010, nearly a year after the state rejected the first bid for the Baltimore slots license.

Murphy declined to identify partners or investors in his group, but said Charm City is reviewing the requirements laid out by the state and city late last month.

“This was one that we thought was worthy of a look, given its potential in Baltimore,” Murphy said.

Charm City has retained two high-powered Annapolis lobbyists from Gordon, Feinblatt, Rothman, Hoffberger & Hollander, including a former legislative staffer who served as chief of staff to the Senate president when the state’s slot law was passed in 2007.

The Chickasaw Nation runs a tribal gaming operation that includes 13 casinos in the 13 Oklahoma counties it calls home.

“A business of the nation has been examining the possibility of bidding on [gaming] licenses in Maryland,” tribe spokeswoman Kym Koch said Friday.

That business, Global Gaming Solutions, owns the Remington Park horse track and casino in Oklahoma City.

Clairvest, the Canadian equity firm, hired State House lobbyist William Kress before the 2011 legislative session. Clairvest owns gaming interests in Canada, South America, Illinois and Indiana, according to its website.

Kress, a fixture at slots commission meetings and at an administrative hearing last fall involving the first bidder for the city license, declined to comment last week when reached by phone.

Isle of Capri Casinos, of St. Louis, also loaded up on lobbying power late last year. Five lobbyists with Alexander & Cleaver, including former Speaker of the House Casper R. “Cas” Taylor Jr. are listed in state ethics filings as representing Capri.

The company owns casinos in Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri and Pennsylvania.

Calls to a Capri spokeswoman seeking comment were not returned Thursday and Friday.

Penn National Gaming Inc., owner of Hollywood Casino Perryville, the state’s first slots parlor, had considered selling its interest there if it had a chance to win the Anne Arundel County license.

Anne Arundel, with 4,750 machines, and Baltimore, with 3,750, would be significantly larger than Perryville operation, which has 1,500 machines.

But D. Eric Schippers, a Penn National spokesman, said the company isn’t interested in Baltimore, and is focused on Perryville and Rosecroft Raceway, the harness track in Prince George’s County.

Canadian homebuilder Michael Moldenhauer could still be in the mix. His Baltimore City Entertainment Group submitted the only proposal for the Baltimore license in February 2009. His bid was tossed later that year, and he has lodged administrative and court challenges to that decision since then.

A hearing is scheduled in Baltimore City Circuit Court on May 25, with Moldenhauer seeking to force the slots commission to reopen consideration of his proposal.

He said last week his focus has been on the appeal process.

“As far as making a new bid goes, I’m not sure,” Moldenhauer said.