RUMFORD – Casino proponents kicked off a signature-gathering drive Friday in hopes of a statewide vote on a casino in Oxford County in western Maine.

Seth Carey, the founder of a corporation called Evergreen Mountain Enterprises that is promoting the idea, said the group aims to collect 40,000 to 50,000 signatures to force a referendum asking Mainers whether they would approve a casino in Oxford County.

The number of signatures required is dependent upon the turnout in the election this November, said Melissa Packard, director of elections in the Secretary of State’s Office.

According to the Evergreen Mountain Web site, 39 percent of the gross income from gaming devices at the facility would go to the state to be earmarked for education, road development, health care, tax relief and other programs.

Evergreen Mountain has been advertising for several weeks for signature gatherers. On an Internet job site, the groups says it will pay a commission for signatures that are collected.

Maine voters in 2003 rejected a proposed Indian casino in Sanford, but gave the green light to a slot machine parlor in Bangor, which began operating last fall.