The Oxford Casino, a non-Indian facility, in Maine. Photo from Oxford Casino
Writer says casinos aren't the answer to budget woes across the nation:
When casino proposals surfaced in Maine more than a decade ago, with glowing projections for economic expansion and enormous boosts to state revenue, I wrote numerous columns opposing them as far too good to be true. But while a referendum sponsored by two Maine Indian tribes to build a $650 million “destination resort casino” in York County failed in 2003, voters simultaneously passed a plan to allow two “racinos” to support the state’s permanent harness racing tracks in Bangor and Scarborough. Local approval was required, and Bangor voters signed on willingly, but Scarborough and its surrounding towns did not, and southern Maine remains without such a facility. Another Indian-run casino plan failed in 2007. But voters flipped in 2008, and western Maine ended up hosting a second non-Indian “gaming” site in Oxford. Both casinos have since expanded to offer “table games” such as blackjack and poker — but the Oxford casino has fallen far short of its backers’ glittering promises to create an upscale vacationers’ paradise featuring a 300-room resort and many other amenities.Get the Story:
M.D. Harmon: Don’t bet on the gambling industry to fund the state’s budget (The Portland Press Herald 7/11) Related Stories:
Opinion: Denial of gaming to Maine tribes a fundamental injustice (04/14)
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