January 07, 2025
GAMBLING

Slots bill slows in Senate as vote looms

AUGUSTA – The Maine Senate put the brakes on the public debate over slot machines at the Bangor Raceway on Tuesday, with the bill’s major players going behind closed doors in hopes of hammering out a deal before a vote.

Even before the Senate tabled LD 1820, which would impose strict controls on the state’s fledgling slots industry, Penn National Gaming, the company poised to run the Bangor racetrack casino, continued to push for changes to the bill approved by the House Monday.

“I’ve probably had a hundred people come up to me this morning and ask if I’m OK with racino,” Sen. Chandler Woodcock, R-Farmington, told a fellow senator before the body’s morning session, which drew legions of lawyers and lobbyists to the Senate chamber.

This morning, the Senate is expected to debate the legislation, which would authorize up to 1,500 slot machines at the Bangor track.

Although given initial approval by the House, the bill still has several sticking points, some of which Penn contends could sink the Bangor project.

Most notably, the company objects to a new tax in the bill that would net the state upward of $8 million on top of the 39 percent it already stands to receive from the slots revenue after winnings are paid. Instead, Penn proposes to pay a one-time, $3 million fee to cover state costs.

Penn also favors a less expensive – but equally effective, they argue – computer system to control and monitor the slots.

But on Tuesday, Penn officials seemed to soften their Monday stance that without the changes, there would be “no project.”

“At the end of the day we have to take a very careful look whether the project can be viable,” Penn spokesman Eric Schippers said. “A final decision has yet to be made.”

If Penn were to scrap the $30 million project, two of Maine’s Indian tribes put the state on notice this week that they, with the help of their partner, Foxwoods Development Co., would be willing to accept the terms of the bill, including its effective tax rate of 49 percent.

“While the higher tax rate would result in a lower profit margin for the operator, the project is still feasible and still presents an attractive opportunity,” reads the April 12 letter, which prompted a quick response from Penn.

“It’s irresponsible,” Schippers said, noting that the Mashantucket Pequot Tribe, which runs Foxwoods, gives Connecticut only 25 percent of its revenue. “They would have never built Foxwoods giving away 49 percent.”

The letter, signed by leaders of the Penobscot Nation and Passamaquoddy Tribe, quickly made the rounds in the State House Tuesday.

Sen. Kenneth Gagnon, D-Waterville, chairman of the legislative committee that crafted the bill, said the letter should give peace of mind to Bangor city officials, who have contracted with Penn to run the raceway’s slots.

“I think it gives Bangor a little breathing room,” he said, noting the possibility the legislation could emerge without Penn’s wish list. “But what it comes down to is, I don’t think Penn’s going to take a walk.”

After Tuesday’s session, there appeared to be some sentiment to consider Penn’s requests to amend the bill.

“We don’t want to set up a situation where for whatever reasons the racino does not come to fruition for Bangor,” said Sen. Art Mayo, R-Bath, who predicted the Senate ultimately would back the bill.

Besides Penn’s expected amendment, several others are sure to be offered when the bill hits the Senate chamber. Among them will be Portland Sen. Ethan Strimling’s proposal to devote an additional 3 percent of slots revenue to property tax relief.

A similar plan was defeated Monday in the House, which considered eight amendments to the bill, including one to send the matter back to voters. All failed.

Strimling, although a leader of the anti-gambling group Casinos No!, said he ultimately – although reluctantly – would support the bill as written.

“I don’t like any of this,” Strimling said, although noting LD 1820 was preferable to the citizen-initiated bill it aims to replace. “I don’t think it’s the right direction, but I recognize that Bangor wants it.”


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