Legislature to tackle remaining racino bills

BANGOR – The recent passage of a law shielding sensitive personal and corporate information required from racino license applicants, though hailed as a major milestone, wasn’t the only bill submitted this session relating to plans for a racetrack casino near Bangor Raceway.

The proposed laws are aimed at governing Penn National Gaming Inc., which eventually plans to open a facility featuring 1,500 slot machines in Bangor. Meanwhile, however, the company plans to set up shop with the first 475 machines at Miller’s Restaurant, one of a handful of eligible commercial properties within the 2,000-foot radius from the racetrack allowed by state law.

Sen. Kenneth Gagnon, D-Waterville, a co-chairman of the legal and veterans panel, said last week that he did not anticipate much support for the bills, most of which deal with issues dealt with earlier, either by the gambling board or the Legislature.

“There’s going to be a certain level of problems with gambling,” Gagnon said last week in a telephone interview.

“But the people of the state of Maine have spoken. We are a gaming state,” he said.

Penn National executive Steve Snyder said some of the bills were an apparent attempt to scuttle the Bangor racino.

“Having failed at the ballot box, the state’s anti-gaming interests seem to have reverted to a strategy of “death by a thousand cuts,” he noted in written testimony submitted to the committee during a series of public hearings earlier this month.

To most racino watchers, LD 90, the so-called racino confidentiality bill, was by far the most pressing legislation with which lawmakers dealt this session. That is because without it, Penn National would not have submitted the rest of the information state gaming regulators required before they could consider turning the company’s temporary slots license into a permanent one.

Shortly after LD 90 became law, Penn National officials filed a complete application with the state Gambling Control Board. Staff from the Department of Public Safety now are processing that application.

“The licensing process is back on track and we’re eager to move full steam ahead, despite the latest attacks on our industry and the Bangor project,” Snyder noted in his written testimony.

The bills still making their way through the legislative process aim to limit the racino’s operating hours, cap losses for bettors, require hourly checks of gaming facility parking lots for children left unattended in vehicles and alter the revenue split established last year by members of the Legislature’s Legal and Veterans Affairs Committee, which has jurisdiction over gambling laws in Maine.

The first bill headed for a work session is LD 1117, “An Act to Protect Children left unattended at Gambling Establishments.” The work session is set for 1:30 p.m. today in Room 437 at the State House.

Sponsored by Rep. Darlene Curley, R-Scarborough, this bill would require Penn National to do hourly parking lot sweeps to ensure no child under 16 is left unattended in any vehicle parked at its gaming facility.

Work sessions on the following bills are set to begin at 10 a.m., Wednesday, May 4, in the same meeting room:

. LD 1399, “An Act to Increase College Scholarships.” Sponsored by Sen. Michael Brennan, D-Portland, the bill seeks to increase the portion of racino revenues earmarked for scholarships to state colleges by doubling the percent of gross slot machine income to be turned over from 1 percent to 2 percent.

Snyder called the proposal “a tax hike to support a constituency that is already in the gaming revenue stream, at the expense of all other participants in that stream.”

. LD 1260, “An Act to Establish Daily Loss Limits Relating to Slot Machines and Certain Games of Chance.” Sponsored by Sen. Mary Andrews, R-York, the bill seeks to cap bettors’ losses at $300 in a given 24-hour period.

Snyder said loss limits have not reduced problem gambling in other states, namely Missouri and Iowa. He further noted, “This bill is one of a number of recently introduced bills that we believe are designed to derail the proposed gaming facility in Bangor.” He said the bill could sharply decrease revenues, which would in turn affect other beneficiaries, including Bangor, horsemen, state agricultural fairs and others.

. LD 1467, “An Act To Limit the Hours of Operation at Certain Gambling Establishments.”

Sponsored by Rep. Glenn Cummings, D-Portland, the bill would require the racino to close from 1 a.m. to 6 a.m. daily.

The gambling control board already has adopted a rule setting operating hours of 8 a.m. to 4 a.m. daily, except for Sundays, when it would open at noon. It would close for Christmas and Easter.

Snyder said the bill would cut operating hours by as much as 25 percent, which in turn would reduce benefits to the state, the city of Bangor and other racino revenue beneficiaries.