AUGUSTA – The chairman of the Maine Gambling Control Board took steps Wednesday to give credit where credit is due.

“I don’t believe the governor’s ever been given the credit he deserves,” George McHale, who also heads the Maine Harness Racing Commission, said after a gambling control board meeting at the State House.

McHale was referring to Gov. John Baldacci’s decision in the spring of 2004 to issue the executive order that jump-started the approval process by as much as a year, despite his opposition to gambling.

The executive order led to the appointment of a five-member interim advisory board that began the job of developing rules and regulations.

The original five appointees became the racino’s official watchdogs after they went through the committee confirmation process later that year.

“Had he not made that move, we would not be at the point were are at today. And that’s not a political statement,” McHale said.

The development of rules and regulations for slots-style gambling paved the way for Penn National Gaming Inc.’s interim facility, Hollywood Slots at Bangor, which debuted last November with 475 slot machines in the former Miller’s Restaurant on Main Street.

On Monday, Bangor city councilors unanimously approved several measures aimed at paving the way for Penn National’s next phase of development here, the construction of a larger, $70 million-plus permanent gaming complex that will be built across Main Street from Bass Park, on the spot where the Holiday Inn-Civic Center and the Main Street Inn now stand.

“Let me go one step further,” McHale added. “Gov. Baldacci, when he appointed [the interim board], gave us two charges. The first was to protect the public. The second was to write rules consistent with good government practices.”

As McHale sees it, the Bangor council’s votes to allow the permanent facility to move forward represented a vote of confidence in the gambling board’s work to make sure that stringent but fair rules were in place before the first slot machine lever was pulled in Bangor.

“I think it says a couple of things,” McHale said. “It says the work that the board has done is paying off. The operation has been a success in the opinion of a lot of people,” including harness horsemen, who this year have seen purses for Sires Stakes racing … from an average of $2,800 to an average of $7,000.

“Those who predicted gloom and doom are finding there’s no gloom and doom,” he said. “I would say [Hollywood Slots] is probably more successful that any of us anticipated.

“The general sense is that we’re extremely pleased that things are going as we had hoped and that it’s a cooperative effort [among] the state, the operator and the city,” he said.

Despite the lack of startup problems with Penn National’s interim facility, the gambling board intends to continue keeping a close eye on the Bangor gambling operation.

“We felt from Day One that our necks were on the line and we’re insistent that we do this correctly,” he said.

During their meeting, board members handled a series of housekeeping items, including a decision to hold their meetings at the Department of Public Safety’s Augusta headquarters, where the gambling control unit is housed.

In recent months, board meetings have went back and forth between the Augusta barracks and the State House, where many of the committee rooms are wired for Internet audio access.

Until the board is able to get its own conference room similarly wired, meetings will be recorded digitally and posted on the gambling control board’s Web site.