Judges turn back challenge to slots referendum

ANNAPOLIS, MD – (AP) Maryland's highest court has rejected a legal challenge to a referendum on slot machines, ending an effort by slots opponents to rewrite a ballot question they called misleading.

Just hours after hearing arguments in the case, the Court of Appeals issued a one-page order affirming a lower court decision that made a minor change to the ballot question.

As initially written, the ballot question said slots would raise revenue for education. A panel of three Circuit Court judges last week found that language misleading and ordered the addition of a single word to show education would be the "primary" beneficiary of slots revenue.

Slots opponents argued unsuccessfully that remedy didn't go far enough.