Tribes’ proposal for slots rejected Panel votes not to limit machines

AUGUSTA – Maine’s two largest Indian tribes aren’t likely to operate slot machines in the state, based on a Wednesday vote by the legislative committee charged with crafting rules for the fledgling gambling industry.

The Legal and Veterans Affairs Committee voted not to consider a plan introduced last week by the Penobscot Nation and Passamaquoddy Tribe that would allow the tribes to run slots at Bangor Raceway.

The vote, like others taken Wednesday, was preliminary, and issues rejected by the committee eventually could find themselves back under consideration, according to the committee’s chairman, Sen. Ken Gagnon, D-Waterville.

Nevertheless, rejection of the tribes’ plan was seen by tribal leaders as another strain on already unsettled relations with the state, where voters in November soundly defeated a ballot initiative for an Indian casino in southern Maine.

“It’s the same old song and dance,” said Passamaquoddy Rep. Fred Moore, who saw the plan as a chance to become economic partners with the state and improve conditions on the tribes’ reservations. “They just want to peddle the same old snake oil they’ve been peddling to us for the last 200 years. There’s a lot of anger in our communities.”

The tribes’ plan was presented as an amendment to the Baldacci administration’s bill designed to tighten regulations on the new form of gambling approved by voters in November for the state’s harness racing tracks.

Committee member Rep. Richard Brown, R-South Berwick, said his vote to exclude the tribes had nothing to do with who presented the proposal, only the timing of the request.

“I guess if I had heard the plan a year ago, that would be a different thing,” Brown said. “This was just some group trying to get in on the action, and it’s too late.”

Bangor officials already have contracted with a private gaming company to operate slots at the city-owned track.

The committee will hold another work session on the governor’s bill at 1 p.m. Friday.

On Wednesday, the committee also rejected the 1,500 limit on slot machines per track as proposed in the governor’s bill.

“We’re interfering with free enterprise,” said committee member Rep. Pat Blanchette, D-Bangor. “It’s supply and demand, and we’re trying to put the cord around their neck before they start.”

But Michael Cantara, the state’s public safety commissioner, later said the limits were sound, and the administration would ask the committee to reconsider its position.

The committee also left the door open – although only slightly – for a racetrack casino in southern Maine.

Scarborough Downs has argued that it needs more time to find a place to build a new track with slot machines because the Dec. 31, 2003, deadline imposed by the referendum was too tight.

While the committee overwhelmingly rejected the idea of extending the deadline for the Downs to find a host community, it did vote to consider allowing another local vote on the issue in two years.

Administration officials were quick to reject the idea of accommodating a southern Maine racetrack casino, even with the delay.

“No way,” said Baldacci spokesman Lee Umphrey. “Any discussion of expansion is not something [the governor is] interested in.”

Officials with Penn National Gaming, Scarborough Downs’ Pennsylvania-based partner, said they planned on asking the committee to reconsider an immediate deadline extension.

With only two members in favor, there also was little sentiment on the committee for sending the “racino” measure back to voters, despite pressure from gambling opponents confident they could defeat the referendum in a second vote.