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Last year voters in Maryland approved legalizing slots as a way to generate more than $300 million a year for public education, revenue that has yet to reach schools due to economic downturn and local opposition to slot parlors. Without the additional revenue slot machines were supposed to generate, the University of Maryland could see their finances plummet further.
 
The state is already facing a $2 billion deficit next year, and further cuts to the university’s budget seem likely. University officials are making drastic slashes, including possibly eliminating entire departments, laying off faculty and limiting classes offered while increasing class sizes.

“It’s not exactly what people imagined,” said Warren Deschenaux, the state legislature’s chief fiscal analyst about the lack of bidders for slot machine sites.
 
“Doing something like slots is never easy, and doing it in the midst of the worst recession since the Great Depression is even worse,” said University Lobbyist Ross Stern. “You have to hope a new revenue source is going to be successful and coming online because it would be a huge help to the state’s budget situation.”

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