The governor endorsed local option, allowing for legalization by a local referendum, in exchange for support for a state sales tax. In the 1940's, state and local officials approved legislation that formally permitted slot machines in four counties, including Charles County and St. In some cases, children waiting for the school bus would run into convenience stores and bet their lunch money one reminiscing state legislator commented that slot machines were ' everywhere except churches.' Officials in that state informally allowed the 'amusement devices' in restaurants, bars, even doctor's offices across southern Maryland. Slot machines, invented after the Civil War, were in operation in Charles County, Maryland by 1910. As a result of that location and because the two states had very different laws regarding gambling, people were able to step onto piers attached to the Virginia shoreline, walk a short distance above the Potomac River until crossing the low-water mark, and enter gambling casinos that were illegal in Virginia but approved by local officials in Charles County and St. That decision, plus the location of the Virginia-Maryland boundary, made it possible for Virginia gamblers to play the slot machines in Maryland without having to cross the Potomac River.Īs defined in the 1632 charter to Lord Baltimore and later interpreted by Federal courts, the Virginia-Maryland boundary is at the low-water line of the Potomac River - not in the middle of the river.

After World War II, Maryland officials officially authorized slot machines in Charles County and St. In the 20 th Century, Maryland was far more relaxed about gambling than Virginia. Slot Machines (and Casino Gambling?) on the Maryland-Virginia Waterfront Slot Machines (and Casino Gambling?) on the Maryland-Virginia Waterfrontīetween 1949-1958, gamblers could walk from the Virginia shoreline in Prince William, King George, and Westmoreland counties to slot machine casinos in Maryland, crossing on piers beyond the low water mark of the Potomac River to reach Charles and St.

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