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Thursday, January 15, 2004
Work begins on racino bill
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AUGUSTA — Lawmakers indicated Wednesday that they will consider making a lot of changes to Gov. John Baldacci's bill to regulate racinos, including giving Scarborough Downs more time to find a community that is willing to accept a harness-racing track with slot machines. Members of the Legislature's Legal and Veterans Affairs Committee also suggested boosting the amount of racino revenue that goes to harness racing, education and prescription subsidies. They also said voters should have the final say on any changes backed by the Legislature. Those suggestions were among many made during the first of several meetings the committee will hold to craft its recommendations to the full Legislature. The panel took no votes Wednesday and it did not discuss any ideas at length, making it impossible to predict whether a consensus will emerge on any of the proposed changes to the governor's bill. Still, the fact that so many committee members offered so many ideas shows that the panel will not rubber-stamp the governor's 39-page plan, because lawmakers have reforms of their own in mind. "We really need to sort of slow this down a little bit," said Democratic Sen. Kenneth Gagnon of Waterville, who co-chairs the committee. Gagnon said it is essential that the committee thoroughly review the bill and make any needed changes so the next Legislature will not have to revisit the issue in 2005 to correct lingering deficiencies. "I don't want to create a law that has enough holes in it that we'll need to come back next session," he said. The governor's bill would create a five-member Gambling Control Board to license and regulate slot machines at harness-racing tracks. It would limit the number of slots to 3,000 statewide and 1,500 per track, and strengthen the enforcement powers of the state police. The bill would assure that racino operators give the state money to regulate the industry; force racino operators to reimburse the state for lost lottery revenues; and funnel racino money to off-track betting parlors and high-stakes bingo operators, if they can show that racinos have chipped away at their revenues. The bill would repeal and replace a racino law that voters passed in a referendum last November. That law allows the state's two commercial harness tracks - Scarborough Downs and the operators of Bangor Raceway - to install slots if they won local approval by Dec. 31, 2003, for a racino within five miles of their current locations. Scarborough Downs was unable to find a community by Dec. 31 that is willing to host its racino, and the governor's bill would not give the Downs more time to do so. Bangor voters approved a racino there last June and the city has signed an agreement with Las Vegas promoter Shawn Scott to establish a racino in Bangor. Last week, however, Scott agreed to sell the Bangor Historic Track, which would have operated a racino at Bangor Raceway, to Penn National Gaming. In exchange for that sale, the state Harness Racing Commission promised to give Penn National a conditional harness-racing license for 2004. That license could allow Penn National to install slots at Bangor Raceway, under terms of the racino law that the voters approved last year. Baldacci's bill would require separate licenses for harness racing and slots, forcing Penn National to get a slots license from the proposed Gambling Control Board before it could install and operate slots in Bangor. The voter-approved law is expected to take effect late next month. Baldacci wants the Legislature to pass some version of his regulatory bill before then, to put tougher state controls in place before the voter-approved law allows a racino to become operational in Bangor. But legislators offered so many ideas of their own during Wednesday's committee meeting that it seems clear the panel has a lot of work to do before it can send its report to the House and Senate. Sen. Arthur Mayo, R-Bath, a member of the committee, predicted there may be eight to 10 committee meetings before the committee votes out a bill, and the next meeting is not scheduled until Jan. 21. Legislators on the committee said the panel should consider:
Lee Umphrey, Baldacci's spokesman, cautioned lawmakers against taking too long to act, because of the imminent implementation of the voter-approved racino law, with its weaker regulations. Staff Writer Paul Carrier can be contacted at 622-7511 or at: pcarrier@pressherald.com
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