The threat of casino gambling has been under wraps of denial on the Eastern Shore for decades, with reports of new hotels rigged with massive electrical systems for roulette wheels and board games. Finally, the threats and rumors have hit the fan.

The Joint Executive Legislative Task Force to Study Commercial Gaming in Maryland , chaired by former Senator Joseph D. Tydings, has been sent out to test the waters. At the rate things went in Easton at the first hearing, July 24, they may end up boiled in oil.

Prince George's County is next: August 17.

About 60 of us Ocean City residents went to Easton in busses and cars, joined by others from the Eastern Shore. We jammed the seats, and stood in the aisles of the Talbot County Historical Society Auditorium. We filled the balcony and hung over the rails in a way that must have given the fire marshals a fit.

What do I, personally, know about casino gambling? Little; I'm too stingy to gamble. I learned from my youngest, a musician. The band has played in many of the casinos; Atlantic City, Las Vegas, Lake Tahoe... Don and I used to go to hear them play in Atlantic City. We enjoyed the music in the milieu of the casino glitter.

Then the next morning while the band slept in, we went out to explore and have breakfast. We stepped into a slum. Next to the casino, a vacant lot featured a discarded sofa, stuffing-entrails falling from its tattered skin.

Debbie told me recently that Atlantic City has more homeless than anyplace she has ever played. The affluent dealers priced people out of housing near the casinos.

The casino managements push drinking, Debbie says, "so you will gamble more. In Vegas they walk around the streets carrying drinks -- this is legal there. Vegas, too, is where buying and selling people is still legal, don't forget."

"When we left work in Atlantic City," she added, "we left our stage makeup on when we walked home. If we went out in our jeans with our freshly-washed faces, the prostitutes would beat us up as interfering amateurs. Made up like the 'professionals,' however, we would be left alone by the women, and men would accept refusal meekly. Everyone knew most prostitutes are armed. These are very weird places."

Despite casino promises of bounty, local people do not get "real" jobs. They are allowed to swab toilets and mop floors. Croupiers, dealers and managers come from the casino's pro-shop ranks. Profits of the gaming go back to wherever the owners come from, not to the town which has let in the gamesters. The musicians get to know the local folks. They hear the real story.

The Easton presentation in favor of gambling had one speaker whose plea struck a chord with my union activism. An unofficial representative of the Delmarva building trades was the only proponent with substance. His fellow workers are having a thin time, he said. Gambling and its building plans represent desperately-needed resources. Things are so bad the building workers forget construction jobs end when the building is finished. Today's household bills and overdue home mortgage make even temporary work worth any compromise. Despite our divergence of opinion, I had to think a verse of "Solidarity Forever."

One proponent cited the benefits of casino prosperity in the growth of Branson, MO, where there had once been virtually nothing, and where now is a country music center to rival Nashville. Well, I remembered my daughter- the-bass player telling me about the casino in Atlantic City. Her band was very good. They were so good, in fact, that the management told them to tone it down. "People are staying in the lounge to listen to you instead of going back to the tables," management said sternly. So much for casino culture.

Why do governments consider casino gaming? Well, there is economic down-turn. Several of those attending believe this has happened because communities, as well as individuals, have adopted the "charge-card mentality," and are borrowing for purchases they could well do without. Can gambling solve these self-inflicted problems? Or is there a way of breaking the habit before the entire world turns into a roulette wheel? We better find out soon.

Meanwhile, in the three and one-half hour long first hearing, 66 people registered to speak against casino gambling and 15 spoke in favor.

The anti-casino forces were cheered as they took their places. Mayor Roland Powell of Ocean City led off, with members of his city council speaking as a panel. Mayor Powell said that many proponents spoke from an industrial point of view. He would speak from the grass roots, he said, "because we can't match the dollars of the casino gambling companies."

The Mayor recalled the early illegal gambling in Maryland which enriched three or four families. The profits of today's proposed incursion, he said, would similarly enrich a small number; in this case, companies. Powell told of seeing families lose everything they owned on the roll of the dice or the turn of a card.

In a strong finish, Mayor Powell said, "I look at gambling as a cancer. If it starts in any one part of this great state, it will spread throughout. The best defense is not to let it start."

Hotel, Motel, Restaurant Association executive director Susan Lynch used solid stats for her telling points.

The Standardbred owners, breeders and racers made an eloquent and substantial plea for repulsing casino gambling. Racing has been destroyed, representatives said, in every area where it has tried to remain in competition with the invader.

Horses comprise the third largest industry in Maryland, according to the industry's speakers; activity which produces, from harness and flat racers themselves, along with feed growers and sellers, to harness makers, farriers and blacksmiths, cart makers, barn builders, veterinarians and university veterinary researchers.

One speaker proved that some things never change. She did not care, she said, if casino gambling came to Maryland, so long as it did not come to HER county. The NIMBY (Not In My Back Yard) syndrome is alive and well.

Copyright 1995 Jo Campbell All Rights Reserved