Scarborough Downs seeks referendum on slot machines

SCARBOROUGH – Officials at Scarborough Downs have quietly begun collecting signatures in hopes of forcing a town referendum next fall on whether to allow slot machines at the harness racing track.

Bangor voters last week endorsed slots at Bangor Raceway by a margin of 57 percent to 43 percent.

In a statewide referendum this November, voters will decide whether to allow slots and video gambling at Scarborough Downs and Bangor Raceway. The legislation says local approval of the slots is required by Dec. 31.

If Scarborough Downs is to keep pace with Bangor Raceway, it must hope Scarborough residents feel differently about slots than the Town Council.

By a 6-1 vote, councilors last year barred video gambling in the business zone in which Scarborough Downs sits. Councilors remain firm in their stand against slot machines and are even more united on the issue than they were last year, says Patrick O’Reilly, council chairman.

“I would be very surprised if the town votes to pass that kind of ordinance. We had tremendous support in our previous ban,” O’Reilly said.

Track officials and their lobbyist, Robert Tardy, say they are not so sure town voters will turn down slot machines at Scarborough Downs. They say that without the slots, the track will not be able to survive and would consider moving to another community willing to allow slots.

Track officials began collecting signatures at the polls during last Tuesday’s bond referendum and said the effort will continue until they have the 2,014 needed to place the slot machine question before voters.

The petition for the referendum would establish an ordinance to amend the zoning laws to allow the slot machines at commercial racetracks. Several hundred signatures have been collected so far. Track officials estimate the town of Scarborough would stand to gain about $3 million a year if slots at the track were approved.

Fred Nichols, manager of Bangor Raceway, says the sagging local economy probably helped convince voters in his city to back slots at the raceway.

Nichols said he wishes Scarborough Downs the best in its efforts to convince the town to allow slots.

“You have to look at the industry as the whole and there should be a good central racing base in both southern and northern Maine,” he said.