People who play the Maryland lottery or games of chance at Maryland casinos are paying a growing share of the state’s budget. Not as much as the sales tax or income taxes, but enough that a team of student journalists at the University of Maryland, College Park spent most of the spring pursuing a basic tenet of journalism: follow the money. From whose pockets is gambling money coming? What is the state doing with its share? And how is it changing?
Students in at least four classes at the Philip Merrill College of Journalism produced a multi-part series called “All In: Maryland’s Big Bet.” MarylandReporter.com has been running part of the series this week and we want to hear some of what the young reporters turned up. Joining Sheilah from California, where she has an internship with the Santa Barbara News Press, is LejlaSarcevic, a graduate student in multi-platform journalism. From Washington, at his job at a graphics design firm, we’re joined by journalism graduate Nicholas Duchesne. And, with us from the College Park campus is Deborah Nelson, associate professor of investigative journalism.
In an earlier version of this post, we mispelled Nicholas Duchesne's last name. We regret the error.
