Though it is part of their somewhat distant past, the state of Maryland was once known as “Little Vegas” and for good reason. Despite Maryland’s current laws, their past is filled with rich gambling, particularly slots. In 1791, Maryland legalized gambling in the form of “lottery grants” which were similar to business licenses and were intended for fraternal and religious organizations and their contribution to various state public works, such as schools and even monuments. Eventually, these grants got out of hand in number and were being sold to private operators outside of the current law. By 1834, the state had enough and stopped the issuance of new grants and by 1860, all current grants had expired, doing away completely with Maryland’s regulated gambling (Janis). Just because gambling disappeared in legal forms, doesn’t mean it stopped there. In fact, Maryland (particularly Southern Maryland) was overwhelmed with illegal gambling operations, primarily focusing on ring, dog and cockfights, horse racing and rolling faro. Slowly, slot machines began to appear for “entertainment purposes” on the Potomac River’s piers. It was because of this reappearance of slot machines that Maryland decided to again legalize slot machines, in order to collect taxes on them. Slot machines became so prevalent in Maryland that they could be found almost everywhere, from barber shops to gas stations; thus coining southern Maryland’s nickname, “Little Vegas”. “Little” might be an understatement, considering Maryland had three times as many legalized gambling devices as Nevada in 1963 (Janis). This overwhelming number of slot machines led to corruption in all forms of government, particularly at the local level, as slot machine manufacturers essentially ran the elections. This corruption was eventually ramified by again making slot machines illegal in 1968. However, Maryland