Bid to overturn racino law hits snag

Friday, June 25, 2004

By PAUL CARRIER, Portland Press Herald Writer

AUGUSTA — A group that wants to repeal the state law allowing slot machines at the Bangor Raceway has hit a technical snag, but organizers say the problem is easily fixed. The Secretary of State's Office has rejected the legal wording that the group, known as No Slots for ME!, submitted to the state for a referendum that would outlaw slot machines in Maine.

No Slots for ME! sent the language to the state as one of the first steps in its drive to force a binding referendum in November 2005. The one-page bill defines what a slot machine is and says such machines are illegal in Maine. But Deputy Secretary of State Julie Flynn advised organizers that the bill is not specific enough.

Melissa Packard of the Secretary of State's Office said Thursday the proposed ban does not make it clear how the referendum would relate to existing gambling laws or which laws it would repeal, so those two points must be clarified before organizers can proceed.

Maine voters passed a law last November authorizing slot machines at commercial tracks if they won local approval by the end of 2003. The only track that met that criteria is the Bangor Raceway, where a racino is planned. The Legislature then passed a law this year that strengthened the state's racino controls and specified how racino revenues would be distributed.

No Slots for ME! wants to repeal both laws, according to Stephen Whiting, a lawyer and a member of the group's steering committee. He said No Slots for ME! is rewriting its proposal to satisfy the Secretary of State's Office by providing the missing information.

Under the state's rules, the Secretary of State's Office must sign off on the wording of the repeal and draft the ballot question that would implement the ban before organizers can begin collecting signatures. They must get the signatures of 50,519 voters by Jan. 20 to send the repeal bill to the Legislature next year. Lawmakers would then have to enact it as written or send it on to the voters for final action.

George Rodrigues of Westbrook, who identifies himself as the founder and director of No Slots for ME!, said Thursday the group will discuss a revised version of the repeal plan today.

"We think it addresses the concerns and we plan to resubmit it" in time to collect petition signatures at polling places Nov. 2, he said. "We would like to have it on the ballot in 2005," Rodrigues said, and rewriting the proposal has not changed that.

Rodrigues said No Slots for ME! has rounded up 40 to 50 volunteers so far in its quest to find 500 people willing to circulate referendum petitions Nov. 2.

The campaign to outlaw slot machines has drawn the ire of Bangor Mayor Dan Tremble and the skepticism of Casinos No!, a group that spearheaded opposition to two pro-gambling referendums last year, including the racino referendum and a separate referendum allowing Maine's Indian tribes to operate a casino. Voters enacted the racino law but defeated the casino referendum.

Tremble said No Slots for ME!, whose steering committee is based in southern Maine, has a right to pursue repeal, but he said he found it "amusing that a group in southern Maine is very worried about what's going on in Bangor."

Tremble said Penn National Gaming of Pennsylvania, which hopes to open a racino in Bangor, may have one up and running next spring, although Penn National's racino has yet to be licensed by the state.

Eric Schippers of Penn National offered no specific timetable in an e-mail Thursday. "Ultimately, we are hoping to build a state of the art facility that will create as many as 500 new jobs and will serve as an anchor for new business development in Bangor and an economic engine for the entire region," he wrote.

The executive committee of Casinos No! has decided not to get involved in the repeal effort, according to spokesman Dennis Bailey. He said Casinos No! would like to see slots outlawed in Maine, but a referendum campaign to do that would be expensive and there's a good chance it would fail.

If voters reaffirmed their support for slot machines at the ballot box, Bailey said, the Legislature could see that as a green light to expand gambling beyond Bangor. Scarborough Downs, which was unable to win local approval for a racino in southern Maine by the Dec. 31 deadline spelled out in the voter-approved law, has indicated that it may ask the Legislature to lift that deadline after the Bangor Raceway becomes operational.

Bailey said Bangor is the only prospective home for a racino under existing law. Rodrigues said it is important to outlaw slot machines anyway because "history in other states has shown that, once these operations become established, there's inevitable pressure to expand."

Staff Writer Paul Carrier can be contacted at 622-7511 or at: pcarrier@pressherald.com

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