Baltimore casino bid deadline extended two months

ANNAPOLIS — Bids for the Baltimore City casino license will be due two months later than planned in order to give the state has more time to review questions raised about the project and a federal reverse discrimination lawsuit filed to disrupt it.

Wednesday’s decision by the Video Lottery Facility Location Commission will require would-be developers to submit proposals by Sept. 23 instead of the July 28 date set this spring.

Commission Chairman Donald C. Fry said he has not abandoned his hope to award the license to a developer by the end of the year, but cautioned the timetable will depend on how many bids the commission has to review.

He said it is “more prudent for us to delay the response date in fairness to all potential applicants” that will have to pay a $22.5 million license fee to operate 3,750 slot machines.

“That’s not the kind of advance you make without having all the details,” Fry said.

The delay is yet another apparent setback for the oft-delayed, heavily litigated effort to bring what would be Maryland’s second-largest casino to the city. But state gaming officials remain bullish on the plan.

Potential, serious applicants

Robert C. Howells, director of procurement for the State Lottery Agency, said the large number of “very thoughtful, very technical questions” and a series of meetings with developers and city officials indicate the seriousness of potential applicants.

“The questions … reflect the fact people are very interested in this location, which is a very positive sign,” Fry said.

Developer Patrick Turner was in the front row of the audience during Wednesday’s meeting, along with business partner Jim Seay, president of Premier Rides, a rollercoaster and amusement ride design company in Baltimore.

The proposed city-owned site for the casino south of M&T Bank Stadium is a short distance from Turner’s $1.2 billion Westport development.

Turner and Seay declined to comment.

Other potential bidders include a group led by local attorney William H. “Hassan” Murphy III, an Oklahoma Native American tribe and two holding companies with gaming interests. Baltimore City Entertainment Group, the lone bidder for the license in February 2009 could also be in the mix.

Lengthy legal battle

BCEG has filed a series of appeals seeking to overturn the commission’s rejection of its first bid, and on July 5 filed a federal civil rights suit alleging the new bid requirements discriminate against white male applicants by giving undue weight to minority business requirements.

The commission had moved forward with its efforts to find a new developer for the site even as the BCEG appeals unfolded. But Fry said the civil rights suit is different because it deals with the state law rather than the commission’s actions.

Assistant Attorney General Bonnie Kirkland said her office is reviewing the suit. Attorney General Douglas F. Gansler urged Gov. Martin O’Malley in May not to sign the bill that imposed the minority business requirements on casino developers because there was not sufficient evidence showing the need for the carve-out.

“If you choose to sign this bill, it should not be implemented unless and until a study validates the need for such a remedy and a program narrowly tailored to reflect the results of that study is enacted,” Gansler wrote.

The two-month extension the commission approved will provide time for Gansler’s office time to assess and respond to BCEG’s claims, the lottery to answer technical questions and the commission to potentially amend its requirements for developers.

Fry said changes could be made at a meeting in mid-August.

Interest in Rocky Gap

The delay also pushes the due date past the Sept. 13 primary election when Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake is to face a host of challengers. She unveiled a plan Wednesday to gradually cut the city’s property tax rate by 9 percent and offset that with revenue from the city casino.

Fry said the timing was coincidental — bids for the Rocky Gap Lodge & Resort gaming license were already due Sept. 23.

“Our priority is what is in the best interest of the state of Maryland,” he said.

State officials held a separate meeting Wednesday with about 20 people representing developers and contractors interested in the Rocky Gap project.

“My impression is we have some serious interest from some of the groups,” Howells said.

The state has offered the Rocky Gap license up twice before without receiving a single qualified bid.