AUGUSTA – The Legislature’s Legal and Veterans Affairs Committee voted Monday to recommend allowing the Penobscot Nation to operate 400 slot machines in conjunction with its high-stakes bingo games on Indian Island. But the proposal faces strong opposition, including a likely veto by Gov. John Baldacci.

“We are trying to survive as a community,” said Rep. Donna Loring, the Penobscot Nation’s representative to the Legislature, “and we are willing to share the profits as well.”

She was pleased with the 8-1 committee vote and hoped the three absent members would join the majority ought-to-pass report. The sole vote against the proposal at Monday’s work session was from Rep. Pat Blanchette, D-Bangor.

“I don’t think it’s a surprise to anyone in this room that I am voting no,” she said. “I think this [bill] goes against what the people voted in referendum.” She was referring to the approval given by Maine voters for racetrack casinos in Bangor and Scarborough.

The committee approved an amendment offered by Rep. John Patrick, D-Rumford, that would increase the number of allowed slot machines by 400 and not deduct that number from those authorized for use by Hollywood Slots at Bangor.

Patrick said he disagreed with Blanchette’s reasoning. He pointed out that the original citizens initiative was so flawed the Legislature rewrote the law to meet the intent of allowing a racetrack casino, or racino, but with proper oversight. The Legislature rewrote the law then and can do so again, he argued.

“This [amendment] is a good compromise that continues what we did with that original legislation,” he said.

Loring said the measure, as amended by the panel, seeks to answer some of the concerns raised at last month’s public hearing.

“Representative Patrick’s amendment will change the bill from taking the 400 slot machines away from Bangor and will just increase the overall number of machines,” she said.

Jon Johnson, general manager of Hollywood Slots, told the panel last month that his company is neither for nor against the legislation. But he said taking the 400 machines from the 1,500 allocated to Bangor might force the company to “readdress” its expansion project in Bangor and reduce its size. He also questioned the revenue provisions of the proposal, saying his company now pays more in taxes than the Penobscot Nation would under its proposal.

“That is addressed in Representative Patrick’s amendment,” Loring said Monday. “The distribution now closely follows that of the racino.”

In the original bill to allow the Penobscots to have slot machines, 1 percent of the gross income would have gone to the state to pay for oversight of the machines by the state’s Gambling Control Board, with the remainder of the net income going to the Penobscot Nation. The committee version approved Monday would provide 1 percent of the gross to the Gambling Control Board but also allocate 38 percent of the net income to a variety of entities.

Three percent of the net would go to gambling addiction services, and the University of Maine System and the community colleges would get 21/2 percent each for scholarships. In addition, the community colleges would get 5 percent to help pay for general operating costs.

Old Town would get 5 percent of the net, as would the Maine Technology Institute and the Bureau of Veterans Services.

The amended bill also would set aside 5 percent of the net for distribution to all federally recognized tribes in the state, unless a tribe gets its own license to operate slots. And the bill would set aside 5 percent of the net for distribution to nonprofits licensed to operate bingo games as long as they continue to operate those games. They would lose their share of the payments if they obtained a slot machine license.

The amount of money at stake is significant. The Gambling Control Board reports that in 2006 Hollywood Slots had gross revenues of $564 million and net revenues of more than $37 million. That was with 475 slot machines of the 1,500 it has allocated by law.

“I am opposed to any expansion of gambling that is not approved by the people,” Gov. John Baldacci said last week. He clearly indicated that any expansion of gambling passed by the Legislature would be vetoed.

“I don’t see how I could be more clear,” he said.

Loring acknowledges it will be difficult to overcome a veto, but she does not believe it is impossible.

“Sometimes you just have to fight, fight, fight, fight,” she said. “You may lose, but you have to try, and we are fighting for what we feel is just.”

Loring said the tribe hopes to meet with the governor even though it expects he will remain opposed. She said the Penobscots need the slot revenue “to keep our heads above water” because of the loss in bingo revenue after Hollywood Slots opened in 2005.

Under the bill approved by the committee on Monday, slot machines could be operated by the tribe daily, not just on select weekends, as is the case with its bingo games.