Last week, the gambling industry in Maine suffered a sound – and telling – defeat at the polls.
It can be dangerous to assign motives to statewide voters as a whole. Some opponents of the Lewiston casino offered in Question 3, for instance, objected on moral grounds, while others simply believed a casino was a bad fit for the city’s downtown. Others backed the nearby Oxford casino, and were afraid that another site in Lewiston would be bad for Oxford’s business.
But our reading of the Nov. 8 results says Mainers are for the most part philosophically OK with the state wading into the gambling business, but concerned with the pace of its expansion and the accompanying competition, as well as a little suspicious of the economic claims made by gambling proponents.
Lawmakers should take a cue from voters and change the way racino and casino proposals are brought before voters. Maine has for a long time now needed a comprehensive state policy regarding gambling development. Now, following the failed proposals in Biddeford, Washington County and Lewiston, is the time for the Legislature to stop shirking that responsibility and take care of business.
A good place to start would be with legislation offered by state Rep. Linda Valentino, a Saco Democrat.
Valentino’s bill would cut the state into four regions, allowing one gambling site per region, subject to a competitive bid process. A license to operate a region’s lone casino would cost $5 million, as opposed to the $225,000 that is now charged. The bill also dictates how gambling revenue should be divided by the state and the developer, and how the state must spend the money.
“I’m against the way the state of Maine has been handing out these licenses,” Valentino told the Associated Press. “We basically let the developer draw up the proposal and they tell us what they’re going to do, they tell us where they’re going to do it and they tell how much they’re going to pay us. It’s ridiculous.”
The bill leaves room for debate. Lawmakers should make sure the price of the license and the amount of revenue owed the state fit the market. They should make sure that the revenue is used wisely, with a focus on education and health care. And they should make sure that a casino is given no unfair competitive edge over the local businesses nearby.
Only with an organized system in place will Maine get off the roller coaster of gambling referendums and on the way to the kind of development that most residents can get behind.
Ben Bragdon is the managing editor of Current Publishing. He can be reached at bbragdon@keepmecurrent.com or followed on Twitter.
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