Gambling too close?

Ron Brown’s column in Tuesday’s paper (Is gambling too close to tournament site?) read like something the Maine Christian Civic League would have written for the editorial page, certainly not the sports pages.

I guess I’m not paranoid enough to think that there are a lot of high school kids roaming Main Street with fake IDs and dispensable incomes, walking into the Racino and OTB and blowing their college tuitions. And the last time I checked, it was perfectly legal for adults to go into those establishments.

I would be much more concerned about the amount of alcohol and cigarettes that high school kids might be trying to illegally buy this week.

Perhaps in order to keep the “purity” of the tournament, Mr. Brown would like all the grocery and convenience stores to shut down, also?

It’s tournament week. Let’s stay on track and talk basketball!

Steve Bray

Hampden

The recent column by Ron Brown regarding the proximity of the racino to the Bangor Auditorium (BDN, Feb. 21) was both misguided and irresponsible.

Mr. Brown makes a lot of unfounded assumptions and accusations regarding the gambling establishments in the downtown area. Maybe if Mr. Brown had backed up his column with some solid facts regarding how many underage basketball players and fans had actually gotten past security with their fake IDs, his writing would have more credibility.

Since he failed to do that, I will make a bold assumption of my own and say that Hollywood Slots and the off-track betting facility have continued to do a good job of keeping underage patrons out of their establishments.

Mr. Brown fears that people are spending their money at Hollywood Slots and therefore won’t have money for hot dogs and popcorn. Surely he doesn’t believe this to be the case. Will people spend more at Hollywood Slots than they spend at local restaurants? Ron Brown doesn’t seem to have a problem with people spending their cash at the mall or at the local hotels or restaurants, or at least he didn’t take the time to lump these establishments in with the racino. That appears to be a personal anti-gambling bias that he has, and it’s simply not fair to Hollywood Slots.

The column goes on to suggest that because of the racino and the off-track betting parlor that perhaps Bangor shouldn’t host high school events anymore. This is just plain disingenuous to these two businesses. Slot machine gambling and horse betting aren’t for everyone, I’ll grant that, but they are legitimate, legal businesses that provide jobs and tax revenue for this city. To suggest they close up shop during the tournament week is not only irresponsible, it’s just plain crazy.

The same 18-year-old kids he is so afraid will go bet on horses or use illegal means to go to the slots can just as easily walk into any store and buy lottery tickets. Should we stop the sale of lottery tickets during this week as well? Hollywood Slots will provide the city with the funds it needs to build a new state-of-the-art civic center and arena which will make the tournament an even better event in the future.

Hollywood Slots is not a hindrance to the purity of the tournament, it’s part of the plan to ensure its future in this city.

Reg Bamford

Bangor

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