BANGOR – The Maine Gambling Control Board took the show on the road Thursday when members and staff came to City Hall to provide a briefing on the effort to bring slots to Bangor.

“Our job is not to be opponents or proponents of the racino,” board Executive Director Robert Welch of Bangor said during the session in the council chambers.

The five-member board and its staff, he said, have been charged with developing rules and eventually regulating the up to 1,500 slot machines heading for Bangor, the only Maine community at this time with the needed state and local voter approval.

By state law, he said, the board’s role is to “ensure honesty and integrity for the citizens of Maine” when it comes to a Bangor racino, gaming industry jargon for a racetrack with slots.

Because the meeting in Bangor was informational and not a regular meeting, only board members Larry Hall of Dedham, Jean Deighan of Bangor and Welch were on hand to represent the state.

The first wave of 500 slots is expected to arrive in November or December, when Penn National opens a temporary gambling facility at the former Miller’s Restaurant, which the Pennsylvania-based gaming and racing corporation is acquiring for $3.8 million as a temporary gaming center.

Penn also is working on plans for a permanent facility that would house 1,500 machines. Spokesman Eric Schippers said earlier that the company is holding off on the permanent complex until it becomes clear if anti-gambling concerns will be able to get a citizen-initiated referendum question on the November 2006 ballot that could overturn the 3-year-old vote to authorize slots at the state commercial harness-racing tracks.

During his presentation to the public, Welch recapped the progress made during the year since the gambling board was established and offered a glimpse of the work that must be done in the next few months to meet Penn’s target for setting up shop at Miller’s by the year’s end.

Background checks are under way on Penn National, the racino operator, and International Game Technology of Reno, Nev., which applied for a slots distributor license. Welch said two other distributors have expressed interest in applying.

The application fee for slots operators and distributors is $200,000, which is meant to cover the state’s cost for the extensive background investigations required by law.

Later this summer, the department will hire four more staff members to help process applications, fingerprints, references and financial information from business that want to serve the racino and the 100 or so full-time employees Penn plans to hire.

The application fee for businesses and racino employees will be $250, Welch said.

Meanwhile, the board is working with Penn to develop resources for problem gamblers, Welch said.

A plan for problem gamblers, a business plan and a security plan must be submitted to the board before slots can operate in Bangor. Those items are tentatively slated to be taken up during the board’s September meeting, Welch said.

Penn has adopted the American Gaming Association’s Code of Conduct for Responsible Gambling. The company has the right to exclude those with whom it has had problems, though people who believe they have gambling addiction can exclude themselves and their credit cards.

Though Thursday’s meeting in Bangor drew few audience members, the session was shown live on the city’s local access cable television station and will be repeated in the days ahead.

Welch said that laws and rules pertaining to slots have been posted on the gambling control unit’s Web site, which can be accessed at www.state.me.us/dps/gambboard.