PORTLAND – Debate over a proposed $500 million casino has focused largely on job creation versus preserving Maine’s character. At the community level, it could turn into a vote of the haves versus the have-nots.

The eight York County communities that overwhelmingly have rejected casinos have household incomes that are up to 50 percent above the state median.

But in Biddeford and Sanford, where city leaders are receptive to further exploring a casino, household incomes are more than 6 percent below the statewide median. And a recent survey shows greater casino support in northern than in southern Maine, where median incomes are 28 percent higher.

Those are the facts. But supporters and opponents disagree over whether the debate is a class issue of rich versus poor.

Erin Lehane, spokeswoman for the Think About It pro-casino group that wants to build a casino in Maine, said people with low-paying jobs tend to view a casino as a source of jobs and higher paychecks. Wealthy communities, she said, see a casino as a source of problems.

“If you can see the ocean from your window, you’re opposed,” Lehane said.

Dennis Bailey, spokesman for the anti-casino group Casinos No, agreed that support for casinos runs higher in low-income areas in Maine and across the country. But, he insisted, that doesn’t make it a class issue.

“Most of the people [opposed to a casino] truly just think it would be bad for the state as a whole,” Bailey said. “If it were a class thing, people would say, ‘If you want one in Washington County, go ahead. We just don’t want one in York County.”‘

The Passamaquoddy Tribe and Penobscot Nation earlier this year presented a plan to the state Legislature to build a $500 million casino and resort in southern Maine. Casino gambling is now illegal in Maine.

Residents will probably have the final say. Proponents have launched a drive to force a statewide referendum so voters will decide if a casino should be allowed. The vote could come in November 2003.

Some of the wealthier communities in York County have already made clear how they feel in town referendums.

In Eliot and Ogunquit, more than 80 percent of voters opposed a casino. In Kittery, Wells, York, Kennebunk, Berwick and North Berwick, more than 70 percent opposed a casino.

Those communities have median household incomes that are between 19.8 percent (Berwick) to 50.8 percent (York) above the statewide median income, according to U.S. Census Bureau 2000 statistics.

Lower-income communities have been more supportive of casinos.

In Biddeford and Sanford, which have the 26th and 27th lowest household income levels of the 28 municipalities in York County, city leaders have said they support a casino, and residents will vote Nov. 5.

Additionally, a survey last month showed stronger casino support in the state’s 2nd Congressional District of northern and eastern Maine than in the 1st Congressional District of southern Maine.

The median household income in the 1st Congressional District is $41,585 – 27.2 percent above the $32,678 in the 2nd District. In Calais, where the household income is less than half that of some York County towns, officials are actively trying to lure a casino to their eastern Maine city.

Charles Colgan, an economist at the University of Southern Maine, said it’s an oversimplification to say poor Mainers support a casino, and wealthy residents oppose one.

“Nonetheless, the higher-income communities are more concerned about large-scale projects, and this is apart from just casinos,” he said. “Higher-income communities are concerned about big projects and how they will affect the communities. Lower-income communities might be concerned, but they are often more receptive to them.”

Biddeford Mayor Donna Dion said many workers in Biddeford and Sanford, where the manufacturing base is shaky and jobs come and go, look at a casino as an opportunity for a better job with a better paycheck. Critics, she said, base their opposition on emotion.

“Individuals who are possibly well-to-do, who live on the coastline, whose lifestyle isn’t like the people who live in Biddeford or Sanford – maybe that’s why its so emotional,” said Dion, who supports a casino.

Former Maine Gov. Kenneth Curtis, who is working to bring a casino to the state, said, “I love the slogan, ‘Maine, the way life should be.’ But for an equal number of people, life is not the way it should be.”

State Rep. Mary Andrews of York, co-chairwoman of Casinos No, takes issue with the debate being cast as a battle between the haves and have-nots, and resents the York area being labeled the Palm Beach of Maine.

“It is not an economic issue for us,” she said. “It is preserving the way of life in Maine.”

Bailey said developers typically target low-income areas to put casinos. But he said a casino isn’t a panacea.

The small northern Mississippi town of Tunica has nine casinos. In the decade since casinos were first allowed, incomes have gone up and poverty has gone down. Yet the household income in Mississippi is still more than 34 percent above that in Tunica County, according to the Census Bureau. Thirty-three percent of Tunica County residents still live in poverty.

Bailey said the casinos in Atlantic City, N.J., were built on the promise of jobs and economic development.

“The place is still a dump,” he said. “Just a dump with casinos.”