Baldly pro-casino, but "however you feel about this issue, please vote November 4th"
The latest statewide casino referendum would enable a monstrosity to be built in Oxford County. It was spearheaded by a Rumford lawyer who was under threat of having his law license suspended. After the enterprise was sold to a Las Vegas company named The Olympia Group in September, the referendum has gained some traction. A brand new poll has 47 percent supporting the casino, 46 percent opposed and 7 percent undecide.
However, there is a huge problem with the law a "yes" vote would enact. According to the Proposed Initiative Summary, State of Maine law would be changed as follows:
The initiated bill removes the limit on the total number of slot machines that are allowed to be registered in this State. The minimum age to play a slot machine or gaming device is lowered from 21 years of age to 19 years of age. The initiated bill provides that, other than the approved commercial race tracks in the State that operate slot machines, the gaming facility operated by Evergreen Mountain Enterprises, LLC must be the only gaming facility in the State for at least 10 years.This is obviously a sneaky ploy to bring in younger gamblers and create a state gambling monopoly for ten years. People won't like this if they find out about it and the casino may be toast.
But wait! Representative Patrick (with the support of Senator Plowman) says that if the voters approve this lousy bill, it will be "totally revamped" by the legislature after it passes. This to me is totally astonishing. These lawmakers are lending the power of their offices in order to promise action in favor of enabling gambling. Of course they carefully don't directly tell people how to vote. But why would they be making these promises in the ad if their orientation was neutral?
This horrible method of tricking voters is exactly how we got an absolutely monstrous gambling machine parlor in downtown Bangor. The voters in 2003 passed a measure they thought would put in a few slot machines in order to save the racetrack, help horse farmers, and keep veterinarians from being sad. Five years later we have the extraordinarily ugly Hollywood Slots dominating the south end of Main Street.
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