{"id":86942,"date":"2018-08-29T16:30:48","date_gmt":"2018-08-29T23:30:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=86942"},"modified":"2018-08-29T16:35:01","modified_gmt":"2018-08-29T23:35:01","slug":"maine-casino-backers-behind-failed-2017-bid-may-have-record-fine-reduced","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/maine-casino-backers-behind-failed-2017-bid-may-have-record-fine-reduced\/","title":{"rendered":"Maine Casino Backers Behind Failed 2017 Bid May Have Record Fine Reduced"},"content":{"rendered":"

The proponents behind an unsuccessful casino bid which drew the attention of the ethics commissioners in Maine are likely to get off much easier than originally thought.<\/p>\n

\"Maine
Shawn Scott and his sister Lisa Scott were fined $500,000 for a \u201cmessy\u201d 2017 casino proposal in Maine. (Source: Casinopedia)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Maine Ethics Commission (MEC) announced this week that a proposed settlement would see a $500,000 fine against the casino backers reduced to just $100,000.<\/p>\n

In 2017, a campaign called \u201cProgress for Maine\u201d spent $8.4 million in a crusade to win voter approval<\/a> for a new casino in York country. The campaign was a failure, but it didn\u2019t fail to catch the attention of the ethics board, nor the State Governor, who accused the casino group of \u201chigh jacking democracy.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Ethics Commission handed out the biggest fine in its history as a result, slapping the casino backers with a half-million-dollar penalty.<\/p>\n

But it turns out the casino group likely won’t have to pay nearly that much.<\/p>\n

Battling the Bill Collectors<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The MEC has apparently decided that something is better than nothing.<\/p>\n

The four groups behind the casino bid are owned by Shawn Scott and his sister Lisa, and they\u2019re are all based offshore in the Cayman Islands and Saint Kitts and Nevis.<\/p>\n

Since the siblings don\u2019t appear to have any assets whatsoever in the US, the MEC has come to the realization that it would be \u201cextremely challenging\u201d to collect the $500,000.<\/p>\n

\u201cUnder the circumstances, it would not be a good use of public resources to pursue a collection action that is so unlikely to succeed,\u201d MEC executive director John Wayne told Bangor Daily News.<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The casino groups actually sued the commission<\/a> late last year in an attempt to reverse the record fine, which was 10 times bigger than anything the MEC had previously levied. Now it appears the two parties have come to an agreement which will have them pay a $100,000 penalty instead.<\/p>\n

Board members are expected to vote on the settlement sometime this week.<\/p>\n

History\u2019s Biggest \u201cNo\u201d<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The casino group threw out accusations of bias in regards to the fine, but you can hardly blame voters in Maine for holding a grudge against Shawn and Lisa Scott.<\/p>\n

Shawn first earned notoriety in the state when he ran a successful 2003 campaign to convince voters to approve a casino at a horse track he owned in Bangor. However, he quickly turned around and sold the rights to Penn National for $51 million and promptly left town.<\/p>\n

So when he returned last year and proposed that he should be allowed to build yet another casino in the state, voters sent a very clear message that they wouldn\u2019t be fooled again.<\/p>\n

Despite the millions of dollars the Scotts spent in an attempt to sway voters, the proposal was overwhelmingly defeated. Some 83 percent of voters opposed the plan, making it the largest margin of defeat in the state\u2019s history.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The proponents behind an unsuccessful casino bid which drew the attention of the ethics commissioners in Maine are likely to get off much easier than originally thought. The Maine Ethics Commission (MEC) announced this week that a proposed settlement would see a $500,000 fine against the casino backers reduced to just $100,000. In 2017, a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":37,"featured_media":86943,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13,18],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nMaine Casino Backers Behind Failed 2017 Bid May Have Record Fine Reduced<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Maine Casino backers who were fined $500,000 for running a \u201cmessy\u201d casino campaign in 2017 may have their record fine reduced to $100,000.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Maine Casino Backers Behind Failed 2017 Bid May Have Record Fine Reduced\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Maine Casino backers who were fined $500,000 for running a \u201cmessy\u201d casino campaign in 2017 may have their record fine reduced to $100,000.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/maine-casino-backers-behind-failed-2017-bid-may-have-record-fine-reduced\/\" \/>\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=\"2018-08-29T23:30:48+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2018-08-29T23:35:01+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/9BMkX6E4.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1280\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Cort Smith\" \/>\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=\"Cort Smith\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 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-casino-backers-behind-failed-2017-bid-may-have-record-fine-reduced\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/maine-casino-backers-behind-failed-2017-bid-may-have-record-fine-reduced\/\",\"name\":\"Maine Casino Backers Behind Failed 2017 Bid May Have Record Fine Reduced\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/maine-casino-backers-behind-failed-2017-bid-may-have-record-fine-reduced\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/maine-casino-backers-behind-failed-2017-bid-may-have-record-fine-reduced\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/9BMkX6E4.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-08-29T23:30:48+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2018-08-29T23:35:01+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/20db7dec4c6b349b19992217f9a7df7d\"},\"description\":\"Maine Casino backers who were fined $500,000 for running a \u201cmessy\u201d casino campaign in 2017 may have their record fine reduced to $100,000.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/maine-casino-backers-behind-failed-2017-bid-may-have-record-fine-reduced\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/maine-casino-backers-behind-failed-2017-bid-may-have-record-fine-reduced\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/maine-casino-backers-behind-failed-2017-bid-may-have-record-fine-reduced\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/9BMkX6E4.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/9BMkX6E4.jpg\",\"width\":1280,\"height\":720,\"caption\":\"Shawn Scott and his sister Lisa Scott were fined $500,000 for a \u201cmessy\u201d 2017 casino proposal in Maine. 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His media background began with the Global News Network in Canada, where he served as producer, reporter, and anchor between 2000 and 2016, working on national broadcasts. An avid fantasy football player, his work has also been featured on fantasy analytic sites like RotoViz.com and numberFire.com. Cort has been writing sports betting analysis for The Action Network since the 2018 NFL season kicked off as well. A passionate world traveler, he has spent extensive time in Asia, Australia, and the EU. He enjoys poker and is a hardcore Edmonton Oilers and Denver Broncos fan. 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