A proposal to allow Anne Arundel County bingo halls to use video bingo machines that resemble slot machines has been taken off the table for now by county officials.
The county's legislative review panel decided against developing legislation to allow the machines, said Spurgeon Eismeier, the county's director of permits and inspections. An advisory committee on amusement and licensing had voted in June to recommend allowing the machines, known as "Triple Threat Bingo."

Opponents have criticized the proposal to allow the video bingo machines as a way to slip slot machines into the county through the back door.

Commercial bingo halls, legal only in Anne Arundel and Calvert counties, would like to use the machines but have not pressed the video bingo issue because they place a higher priority on other changes in Anne Arundel County law, said Michael Leahy, an Annapolis lawyer who has represented the Maryland Bingo Coalition.

"I don't think it's off the table, but it's less important to the halls than some of the other things," he said.

Other proposals include increasing the maximum pot for winners from $15,000 to as much as $50,000 and allowing linking of games played at the same time at multiple sites.

Bingo operators say they have lost business to Delaware and West Virginia, where slot machine gambling is legal. They believe bigger prizes and new ways to play bingo could help stem the losses.

The "Triple Threat" bingo machines resemble slot machines in that players drop coins into slots and win cash when correct graphics line up. But instead of spitting out coins, the machines issue printed tickets that can be redeemed for money.

Courts in other states have held that the machines should be classified as bingo and not slot machines. But they could not be used in Anne Arundel County without approval of the county council because the code prohibits bingo games in which numbers are generated by mechanical devices, Eismeier said.

He said the legislative review panel cited similarities between bingo machines and slot machines as one reason for not accepting the proposal of the amusement and licensing advisory committee.