D.C. Slots Backers Start Ballot Drive

[newyawker99]

Promoters of a plan to bring slot machine gambling to the nation's capital vowed yesterday to mount an aggressive petition drive to put their proposal before D.C. voters on the November ballot.

At an initial hearing before the D.C. Board of Elections and Ethics, lawyer John Ray and businessman Pedro Alfonso said District residents should decide whether to allow them to build a $510 million "family-oriented entertainment complex" with as many as 3,500 slot machines. The complex would be built on a stretch of New York Avenue NE near the National Arboretum and would include restaurants, a "marquee hotel," theaters and a bowling alley.

The development -- which would offer as many slot machines as the biggest casinos on the Las Vegas strip -- would create 1,500 permanent jobs, construction contracts for local minority firms and an attractive place to take children in a neighborhood otherwise starved for economic development and family-style amenities, according to a packet of materials distributed to reporters.

It also would generate an estimated $765 million a year in slots profits, of which about $190 million -- or 25 percent -- would be offered to the District government to fund city services.

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http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A10992-2004Jun2.html