Maine tribes try new approach to capture slot machine rights

BANGOR – A week after a legislative committee rebuffed their bid to reopen the process for awarding state gaming licenses, representatives of two Maine Indian tribes adopted a new approach to grabbing the slot machine rights at Bangor Raceway.

Portland attorney Richard Spencer, a member of the Penobscot Nation and Passamaquoddy Tribe’s legal team, said his clients mailed an application for intervenor status to the Maine Harness Racing Commission on Thursday. A copy will be faxed to the commission office today.

Intervenor status, if granted, would give the tribes legal standing in the ongoing tussle over a racing license for Bangor Raceway. A private company, Bangor Historic Track Inc., operates the racetrack, owned by the city.

Slot machines are headed for Bangor as the result of a citizen-initiated law Maine voters adopted Nov. 4. That law kicks in Feb. 21. Gov. John Baldacci has proposed emergency legislation that would tighten control of slots and establish a gambling control board.

The governor’s bill, LD 1820, could replace part or all of the law voters approve in November that allowed slot machines at the state’s two commercial harness racing tracks in Bangor and Scarborough. The bill is still under review by the Legislature’s Legal and Veterans Affairs Committee.

Tens of millions of dollars in revenue are at stake. As things stand, Bangor Raceway is the only racetrack in Maine with the state and local authority to operate slot machines.

As intervenors, the tribes would work to prevent the commission from issuing a conditional license to Capital Seven, the Las Vegas-based company owned by entrepreneur Shawn Scott, or his apparent heir, Penn National Gaming of Pennsylvania.

“We are concerned that [the racing panel] may issue a license to Penn National before it so much as receives an application from the company or holds any public hearing to learn more about them – this certainly would result in a backward process: first the license then the inquiry,” Penobscot Chief Barry Dana and Passamaquoddy Tribal Governors Robert Newell of Indian Township and Melvin Francis of Pleasant Point said in an open letter being distributed to dozens of community leaders in Bangor.

Commissioners last month agreed to grant Penn a conditional racing license upon receiving proof it had acquired BHT and an amended license application. A permanent license and race dates would be issued if Penn passes a background check.

On Thursday, tribal leaders said that ultimately, they want to compete for the chance to develop a racino in Bangor.

BHT, the applicant now before the harness racing commission, was purchased by entrepreneur Shawn Scott in December, while his licensing suitability hearings were still under way. When the commission resumed its proceedings early last month, Scott announced he was selling BHT to Penn National Gaming Inc., a publicly traded Pennsylvania gaming and racing company.

Bangor City Council Chairman Dan Tremble said Thursday that the tribes have kept the city apprised but that the city has a development contract in place and, as such, is not free to pursue new proposals.

“We’ll see,” Tremble said. “It’s been an interesting process. Hopefully, [the parties involved] will continue to act in the city’s best interest.”

The tribes’ new strategy irked Capital Seven and Penn National.

“We are opposed to this latest attempt by the tribes, who have absolutely no standing to intervene in the harness racing commission proceedings, to try to force their way into this issue,” Penn’s Eric Schippers said.

Capital Seven’s Christen Graham had a similar view: “The tribes have no [legal] standing and if they do apply, Capital Seven will object strenuously. Capital Seven opposes anything that would derail the process – and that includes new bidders at the table in a hearing that started last year.”

Scott’s legal team maintains that the tribes would have needed to obtain intervenor status before the licensing hearings began late last year.

Baldacci spokesman Lee Umphrey said the governor had no comment on the legal move.

“First of all, the application has not been received and the question of intervenor isn’t the governor’s to decide,” he said. “In this whole arena, the governor has two objectives. One is to create oversight and regulations. Number two is ensuring anything that’s done is in Bangor’s and Maine’s best interest.”