ANNAPOLIS, Md. - Proposals to legalize slot-machine gambling in Maryland died on Monday in a House committee for the second straight year, dashing the hopes of supporters for a last-minute accord.

By a vote of 19-2, the House Ways and Means Committee rejected Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr.'s proposed legislation, which would have legalized slots at six Maryland sites, including three racetracks. Then, by a vote of 21-0, the committee rejected the version of the governor's bill that had been amended by the Senate.

The Magna 5 paid a record low of $1,130.40 for a $2 bet to 345 ticket-holders Saturday.

Three of the five winners in the pick five bet were favored, and the other two were second choices. The previous low payoff was $4,657.60 to 103 ticket-holders on March 6.

The bet returned a record high payoff of $205,703 on Feb. 28. The wager requires bettors to select the winners of five races run at tracks owned by Magna Entertainment Corp.

The overnight television rating for Saturday's NBC broadcast of the day's three major Kentucky Derby prep races increased marginally compared from last year.

The 90-minute broadcast, which started at 4:30 p.m. Eastern and included the live runnings of the Blue Grass Stakes at Keeneland and the Arkansas Derby at Oaklawn Park, received a 1.6 rating, up 7 percent from last year's 1.5 rating, according to a spokeswoman for NBC, Kathy Connors. The show also included a taped-delayed airing of the Wood Memorial from Aqueduct, which went off at 4:15 p.m.

* True Love's Secret ($25) survived a three-horse speed duel to win the $50,000 Yankee Affair Stakes at Gulfstream. Ridden by Julio Garcia and trained by Ross Wolfendale, True Love's Secret defeated Take Achance on Me by a neck in the five-furlong grass race, with Ghostly Numbers a length back in third.

* Earth Power ($4.40), racing beyond 4 1/2 furlongs for the first time in his eighth career start, romped to a 9 1/2-length victory in the $41,250 Potomac Handicap, a seven-furlong race for West Virginia-breds at Charles Town.

* With Perry Compton aboard, Getaway Holme ($3.40) pressed a slow early pace and assumed command into the stretch to capture the $30,450 Dowd Mile Handicap at Fonner Park.

A race earlier, Compton guided Burning Memories ($5.20) to a repeat victory in the $16,075 Runza Handicap at six furlongs.

ARCADIA, Calif. - The Magna 5 paid a record low of $1,130.40 for a $2 bet to 345 ticketholders Saturday.

Three of the five winners were favored, and the other two were second choices. The previous low payoff was $4,657.60 to 103 ticketholders on March 6.

The bet returned a record payoff of $205,703 on Feb. 28. The wager require bettors to select the winners of five races run throughout the country.

The Jockey Club, the three largest racetrack operators in the United States, and the racing industry's three tote companies have reached an agreement to identify problems in the sport's betting network and develop solutions.

The racing companies involved - Magna Entertainment, the New York Racing Association, and Churchill Downs - together account for approximately 60 percent of the national handle on horse racing.

Parimutuel wagering on Thoroughbred races in the United States rose more than one-half of 1 percent in the first quarter of 2004 compared with the first quarter of 2003, according to figures released by the National Thoroughbred Racing Association. Purses in the quarter declined slightly more than 1 percent from last year. . . . The Meadowlands on Saturday will hold the first qualifying event for the $1 million Horseplayer World Series, to be held in January in Las Vegas.

Derby prospect unfairly put in hard place

I would like to offer my sympathy to co-owner Mercedes Stable, co-owner and breeder Madeleine Paulson, and trainer Jason Orman on the unlikelihood of getting the Santa Anita Derby runner-up, Rock Hard Ten, (who was disqualified to third) into the 2004 Kentucky Derby field. You shouldn't have to go through this ("For a few dollars more: Derby spots," April 7).

Maryland Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. is pushing for a state-owned $400 million racetrack and slot machine parlor in downtown Baltimore that would serve as the new home of the Preakness Stakes. The proposed project is part of Ehrlich's effort to break a political stalemate over legalized gambling.

The Ehrlich administration has completed a preliminary study on what it would cost to build the track, called Baltimore Gateway International, and where it would be located - on nearly 200 acres off Interstate 95 in downtown Baltimore, adjacent to the Baltimore Ravens' football stadium.