For the second year in a row, state senators in Maryland who represent Cecil County, the location of Pen National Gaming’s Hollywood Casino Perryville, are introducing a bill to allow the small casino to pay a lower tax rate, like its larger competitors.
State Senator Wayne Norman, the sponsor of the bill, argues that Maryland’s casino law placed a larger tax rate on the Perryville casino than any other of the state’s six casinos, although it is fourth in size. While other casinos pay 32 percent of revenues to the Maryland Education Trust Fund, Hollywood Casino, under the law, diverts 46 percent of revenues to the fund.
After all state taxes and fees are paid, Hollywood keeps around 39 percent of the revenue it takes in, compared to the 54 percent kept by all casinos combined.
In an interview with the CecilDaily.com news site, Norman speculated that the casino’s higher tax rate passed because former Governor Martin O’Malley wanted to “punish” Cecil County for some reason.
Hollywood Casino GM Matt Heiskel told the site the tax rate simply is unfair. “I don’t really have a sense for why,” he said. “We’re the fourth-largest casino, and we’re taxed the most. It’s simply a matter of fairness. We believe that we are continuing to educate people around the state with regard to how high we’re taxed compared to our larger competitors.”
Heiskel went on to say the smaller profit margin restricts the ability to reinvest in the property.
Norman’s bill would increase the percentage of revenue kept by the casino by 5 percent, with 2 percent of that revenue required to be spent on marketing and capital improvements. He commented that last year’s attempt lost support because lawmakers were focused on the opening of MGM National Harbor, which occurred December 8.
He said the initial hearing on this year’s bill “went real well; there was no opposition to it.”
