Poll finds dwindling racino support South Portland-based firm reports 53 percent now opposed to slots

Supporters of slot machines in the state might not be so lucky if Maine voters were deciding the issue today, according to a new poll.

The poll, released Tuesday by the South Portland-based firm Market Decisions, suggested a new vote could reverse the outcome of the November referendum that legalized slots at the state’s harness racing tracks, with 53 percent now opposed and 47 percent in favor.

“It appears that there has been a slight erosion in support for the racino,” said Brian Robertson, director of research at Market Decisions. “But that’s enough to make a difference in the vote.”

The January poll of 401 random Maine residents has a margin of error of 4.9 percent, a statistic that makes the outcome of another vote “too close to call” by Robertson’s estimates.

Among those surveyed who supported the November slots referendum, 18 percent said they would change their vote if given a chance. The most prevalent reason for such a switch was that “they did not trust the referendum wording or the people supporting it.”

The results, while subject to interpretation, did not surprise backers of the November slots initiative, Question 2.

David Nealley, a Bangor city councilor and consultant for the original developer of a slots parlor at Bangor Raceway, attributed any apparent drop in support to numerous bureaucratic hurdles facing the project and an intense media focus on its most contentious aspects.

“All people are hearing … is the political controversy and they’re not seeing any of the benefits from the project,” Nealley said. “Maybe if people could hear about the new jobs and the potential economic benefit, they’d feel differently.”

The poll’s release comes at a crucial point in the debate over slots in Maine as the Legislature’s Legal and Veterans Affairs Committee meets today to hammer out final revisions to the citizen-initiated bill, including whether to send the revised legislation back to voters.

Although that prospect is unlikely, with the committee already rejecting one such amendment, gambling opponents used the poll numbers to renew their calls for a new vote.

“What it shows is … that voters were totally hoodwinked into voting for this thing,” said Dennis Bailey, spokesman for the anti-gambling group CasinosNo! “Anecdotally, I can’t tell you how many people have told us they screwed up on this.”

Much of the opposition to the racinos has come from southern Maine, where local voters twice have rejected efforts by Scarborough Downs to operate slots in their communities.

Rep. Kevin Glynn, R-South Portland, cited those local votes in announcing that he again would ask his committee to send the matter back to all Maine voters.

“Voters where I live have seen what a racino is all about and have changed their minds,” Glynn said referring to the votes in Saco and Westbrook, where opponents launched extensive advertising campaigns to help defeat the project. “They would like another crack at it.”

Not likely, according to the committee’s chairman, Sen. Ken Gagnon, who said the poll would have no impact on his opposition to another statewide referendum on essentially the same issue.

“I’m not going to second-guess what the voters have done at this point,” said the Waterville Democrat, whose committee is poised to offer a revised version of the citizen-initiated bill that would tighten regulations on the fledgling slots industry.

The racino questions were part of a quarterly survey conducted by the Market Decisions, which says it is unaffiliated with either supporters or opponents of the racino referendum.