Initiative aims to protect Bangor slots

AUGUSTA – Members of the state’s harness racing community this week submitted an application for a citizen initiative aimed at thwarting the efforts of an anti-gambling group based in Westbrook.

At issue is whether slot machines should be legal in Maine.

Voters in a statewide referendum last November approved slot machines at the state’s commercial harness racing tracks, but only if voters in a local community approved. Bangor voters approved, making Bangor Raceway the only site eligible for slots under the new law.

In May, just weeks after the governor signed a law paving the way for slot machines to come to Bangor, the southern Maine group known as No Slots for ME! announced its intention to have the state’s newest form of gambling outlawed because its members did not believe the issue received a fair hearing. The group’s members are gathering signatures for such a measure.

On Monday, a group of harness racing industry representatives submitted an application for a citizen initiative aimed at counteracting the effort by No Slots for ME!

According to William Hathaway of Turner, executive secretary of the Maine Harness Horsemen’s Association, the industry hopes to get a competing question before voters in 2005.

“We were left with the options of either sitting on our hands and hoping [No Slots For ME!] wouldn’t get all the signatures they need or doing something about it,” Hathaway said. “We’ve worked too hard to get it this far. A lot of energy, money and time has gone into this” on the part of the state’s harness racing industry, the city of Bangor, the state and Penn National Gaming, developer of the project, among others, he said.

To get their questions before voters next year, each group must submit 50,519 valid signatures to the state by Jan. 20, 2005.

Hathaway called the anti-gambling group’s stance on slots “moralistic. They’re saying we’re stupid, that we didn’t understand what we were voting for when we approved slots last year. Let’s give the people of Maine some credit [for understanding the issue],” he said.

Racinos, which are racetracks featuring slot machines, have become one of the hottest trends in gambling. They began sweeping across the nation in the last decade because they’re seen as a way of bolstering the ailing harness racing industry while fattening state coffers.

Bangor currently is working with Penn National Gaming to develop a gaming facility with 1,500 slot machines and an attached multilevel parking garage for at least that number of vehicles. Those are among the key elements of Penn’s up to $75 million plan for the city-owned racetrack.

“This is no smoky little cellar Penn’s talking about. Penn’s planning to build a Class A facility,” Hathaway said.

The Maine Harness Racing Commission recently granted Penn a permanent racing license, which makes it eligible for a state gaming license. The recently established Maine Gambling Control Board is slated to take up Penn’s application for a gaming license during its Oct. 28 meeting.

Hathaway said he hoped the Secretary of State’s Office would approve the harness racing industry’s question soon so that members can begin gathering signatures on Election Day, which many groups see as an ideal time to collect large numbers of signatures from registered voters.