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I hold no brief for either side. This is a
matter which is of such a nature that one
can very easily say that unless and until
they move in from the outside to take over,
and I have no evidence to indicate to what
extent this is or is not taking place, as
long as the State of Maryland regulates its
racing and determines that racing as now
regulated is a subject matter which it
deems to be proper as long as properly reg-
ulated, then I say to you that these are
matters which have been laid to rest.
If you disagree or quarrel with them,
there is the legislature. You may petition
them and have your cause heard.
On the subject of bingo, an effort has
been made to construe bingo as lottery;
two decisions of the lower court hold that it
is not.
I think there is a case pending now be-
fore the Court of Appeals where somebody
who lost money at bingo said it is a lottery
and they are entitled to get their money
back. I do not and would never presume to
say what the Court of Appeals would do
on any given case, but as the law stands, I
g-ive you my measured judgment the fact
that bingo is not affected by our decisions
here with respect to lottery grants.
Now, with respect to the rights of the
political subdivisions, because here you now
have for the first time a totally new issue,
I hope that this issue can be presented to
those of you who hold the view that this is
not of constitutional import, and I hope
that I can change that attitude on your
part.
We have after much discussion, after
much effort, passed a local provision. We
have said to the local governments: these
are the powers which you shall have. We
have said to them that on taxation powers
the General Assembly may take them away.
You cannot legislate on matters involving
the judiciary. You keep the powers that
you have until the State takes it away, but
now if you do not put in this restraint
against lottery in this constitution, this i.s
what can happen.
Every political subdivision can reach the
conclusion that it can operate its own lot-
tery; mind you, this is not a tax, this i.s a
right which I assume the political subdivi-
sion would have. It can operate a lottery,
let us say for a swimming pool. It can
operate a lottery, let us say, for a golf
course, and having that power, the adja-
cent county or the adjacent city can say:
we will operate a lottery and ours will be
for a totally different purpose and you will
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soon see proliferated throughout the State
of Maryland, one of the sorriest spectacles
of each particular local government and
county government seeking to take advan-
tage until the people stop it, of what might
be a loophole in what we have done.
I grant you that at the next session of
the legislature this power can be taken
away but it is going to be hard to argue
that if it is all right for the State to do
it, why can't the county. I find it hard to
argue that to people who want to grant
these lottery permits.
One of the other arguments that we have
made is to say to you that granting lottery
permits, that granting the right for lottery
does not stop the corruption and the gam-
bling controlled by the professionals.
Anybody who knows the facts of life
knows that this is so. I do not say to you
that you consider me or yourselves as au-
thorities. Let me read to you from the
Wash hi f/ton Post of November 21, 1967.
I assure you I am not going back to
Jefferson's day, I am not going back to
even ten years ago, I am going back just
a few weeks and here is a dispatch dealing with gambling in Great Britain, and this is
what they say.
"Seven years ago Britain authorized legal
gambling and set off a boom in which bil-
lions of dollars changed hands most of it
finding its way into the pockets of the
betting shop owners and the gambling house proprietors."
And now I beg of you to listen to the
next paragraph.
"With the boom came an influx of crimi-
nals including members of the Mafia, either
acting on their own or observing the gam-
bling scene for possible large-scale invest-
ment by foreign organizations." I do not
quote myself any longer as I felt I was 15
years ago or 17 years ago an authority on
this subject. I simply quote to you what
has happened; when I say the professional,
when I say the Mafia, I am reading what
others say.
I think everybody here would agree that
if ever you were going to quote from a con-
servative journal, you would say that the
Wall Street Journal is about as conserva-
tive as they come.
I have here a report, December 27, I960,
less than a year ago, a report from one of
their staff reporters in which he says, quot-
ing the Home Secretary as follows: "This
country has become a gamblers paradise,
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