{"id":16618,"date":"2014-01-13T05:30:36","date_gmt":"2014-01-13T05:30:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=16618"},"modified":"2014-01-13T19:06:18","modified_gmt":"2014-01-13T19:06:18","slug":"maine-casinos-oppose-expanded-gambling-state","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/maine-casinos-oppose-expanded-gambling-state\/","title":{"rendered":"Maine Casinos Oppose Expanded Gambling in State"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Maine
Most people think of Maine like this, but a small casino contingent is trying to hold their own there as well. (Image: Katarina Neef\/atpm.com)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

We may not agree with them, but we know there are plenty of reasons that people may oppose more gambling in their state, from moral objections to worries about problem gambling. But in Maine, gambling is finding an unusual opponent: the casinos themselves.<\/p>\n

Read Our Lips: No New Casinos<\/h2>\n

Officials from the two Maine casinos currently in operation spoke to lawmakers this week and said that they shouldn\u2019t approve any expansion of the casino industry in the state. In this case, it seems that the casinos believe that the market in the state is completely saturated already \u2013 while others believe they\u2019re just afraid of a little competition.<\/p>\n

The two properties in question \u2013 the Hollywood and Oxford Casinos \u2013 faced off in front of the Joint Standing Committee on Veterans and Legal Affairs <\/a>against members of two Native American tribes in the state, as well as the owner of the Scarborough Downs race track, over a number of bills that would serve to expand Maine\u2019s gambling options.<\/p>\n

The most controversial of those is known as LD 1111. It would allow Scarborough Downs to become a \u201cracino,\u201d operating slot machines along with their current horse racing operations. That issue has already been brought to referendum in 2011, when it received only 45 percent of the vote statewide.<\/p>\n

Factional Battles<\/h2>\n

According to track owner Sharon Terry, Scarborough Downs<\/a> is struggling due to the competition it faces from the casinos in the state \u2013 particularly Oxford Casino, which is just 45 minutes away and opened in June 2012. And while Hollywood Casino may be further away, it has a companion racino, allowing it to offer everything Scarborough Downs can – and more.<\/p>\n

Terry says that revenues fell 21.8 percent at her track since slots were allowed at the Bangor race track, and that the situation is getting even worse since the opening of the Oxford Casino. Since Scarborough Downs is responsible for 101 days of racing each year, the cut in revenue not only threatens the track, but also Maine\u2019s entire horse racing industry.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Downs cannot survive under the current laws,\u201d Terry said.<\/p>\n

However, the general managers of both casinos – as well as several business owners in the Oxford area – disagreed, opposing allowing slots at the Scarborough Downs facility. In general, the casinos feel that any new gambling in the state threatens to \u201ccannibalize the industry,\u201d as Maine is a relatively small state without enough gamblers to support more venues.<\/p>\n

That helps explain why they also opposed three other bills being considered by the state. Those include a bill that would allow charities to run up to five slots at their headquarters in order to raise funds, as well as two bills that would allow Indian tribes to expand their gambling operations: one that would let the Houlton Band of Maliseets to operate slots and table games, and another that would let the Passamaquoddy Tribe apply to run table games and slots at an existing bingo facility.<\/p>\n

\u201cShould further facilities open or expand, we would see further erosion of our customer base,\u201d said John Osborne, general manager of the Hollywood Casino.<\/p>\n

Oxford Casino general manager Jack Sours agreed.<\/p>\n

\u201cNew casinos or racinos in Maine will simply move money from one casino to another and serve no benefit to the state,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We may not agree with them, but we know there are plenty of reasons that people may oppose more gambling in their state, from moral objections to worries about problem gambling. But in Maine, gambling is finding an unusual opponent: the casinos themselves. Read Our Lips: No New Casinos Officials from the two Maine casinos […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":42,"featured_media":16624,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13,18],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nMaine Casinos Oppose Expanded Gambling in State<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The battles on, as some want gambling expansion, while two existing Maine casinos say the state cannot sustain the competition.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/maine-casinos-oppose-expanded-gambling-state\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Maine Casinos Oppose Expanded Gambling in State\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The battles on, as some want gambling expansion, while two existing Maine casinos say the state cannot sustain the competition.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/maine-casinos-oppose-expanded-gambling-state\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Casino.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-01-13T05:30:36+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2014-01-13T19:06:18+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/beautiful-places-in-maine-544.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"768\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Casino.org Staff Writer\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Casino.org Staff Writer\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/maine-casinos-oppose-expanded-gambling-state\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/maine-casinos-oppose-expanded-gambling-state\/\",\"name\":\"Maine Casinos Oppose Expanded Gambling in State\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/maine-casinos-oppose-expanded-gambling-state\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/maine-casinos-oppose-expanded-gambling-state\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/beautiful-places-in-maine-544.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2014-01-13T05:30:36+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2014-01-13T19:06:18+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/8c48bf89dc86da77b4d856c7b3b78d77\"},\"description\":\"The battles on, as some want gambling expansion, while two existing Maine casinos say the state cannot sustain the competition.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/maine-casinos-oppose-expanded-gambling-state\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/maine-casinos-oppose-expanded-gambling-state\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/maine-casinos-oppose-expanded-gambling-state\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/beautiful-places-in-maine-544.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/beautiful-places-in-maine-544.jpg\",\"width\":1024,\"height\":768,\"caption\":\"Most people think of Maine like this, but a small casino contingent is trying to hold their own there as well. 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