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But Marylanders are likely to get something a bit closer to Caesar's Palace than the simple slots parlor many voters and lawmakers imagined when they authorized five venues: State officials say they probably will allow electronic versions of the banned games when casinos start opening next year.

"I fully expect them to be included," said Buddy W. Roogow, director of the Maryland Lottery, the agency responsible for procuring machines for the slots sites. "We in Maryland have to be competitive."

The games do not use actual cards, chips or dice but in most other ways mimic the real thing. Players who gather around electronic blackjack tables, for instance, can double down or buy insurance with the press of a button as they try to beat the hand of a computerized dealer, sometimes wagering hundreds of dollars.

The virtual table games are classified as slots in most states largely because the chances of winning are determined and monitored by a computer with no direct human interaction.

Allowing live table games was never seriously discussed during the years of acrimonious legislative debate over bringing slots to Maryland, given lawmakers' skittishness about expanding gambling. Slots were considered more palatable, in part, because the games are less susceptible to fraud. And little was said about electronic versions of the games, which have become popular only in recent years.

"It's no surprise this industry would stretch the definition as far as it will go, but I don't think that was the understanding of voters or the General Assembly," said Del. Tom Hucker (D-Montgomery), who said he voted to put the slots measure on the ballot last year because he feared school budget cuts loomed as an alternative. He later campaigned against the ballot proposal.

During the campaign, supporters played up the hundreds of millions of dollars that could be generated for education, and opponents warned of gambling addiction and other social ills. Neither side focused on the kinds of games that would be allowed, but there was nothing secret either, some lawmakers said.

"People should have done their homework if they thought this was some quaint little industry coming to Maryland," said Del. Justin D. Ross (D-Prince George's), a slots opponent. "As far as I can tell, these machines are perfectly legal. It's getting close to the line for sure, but it's on this side of the line."

Rick Abbruzzese -- a spokesman for Gov. Martin O'Malley (D), who championed the slots proposal -- said electronic table games were "fully anticipated when the law was being crafted and the referendum went to voters." He emphasized that Maryland needs to be competitive in its games choices with surrounding states that have slot machines.

At a Pennsylvania slots casino run by the same firm that Maryland recently awarded a license to open a 1,500-machine slots parlor in Cecil County, the nearly life-size image of a woman in a tight blue dress appears on the video screens of virtual blackjack tables. "Want to play blackjack?" she asks playfully, before appearing to deal cards that show up on monitors in front of the players.

At an Indiana casino operated by the same firm that has proposed a 4,750-machine casino at a mall in Anne Arundel County, real-life employees often greet players at the virtual blackjack tables. They serve beer and offer high-fives when a player beats the computerized dealer.