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Friends, Foes Spar over Gambling Projects

October 17, 2011 - Biddeford – Backers of three gambling projects on the ballot this fall are promising the proposals will lead to hundreds of new jobs and millions of dollars in revenue for the cash-strapped state and host communities.

Opponents argue that even though the economy is still struggling, now is not the time to expand Maine’s gaming facilities, especially without first having a strategic plan in place for the governance and development of such projects. Opponents also question the amount of revenue the gaming facilities would produce, especially with more and more competition, and the quality of the jobs being promised.

In 2003 voters supported the creation of the Hollywood Slots racino, a combination harness racing and slots gaming facility, in Bangor. Then, last fall, they supported the creation of the Oxford Casino, which will have table games, as well as slots.

On Nov. 8, voters will have the chance to weigh in on the fate of three more gambling projects – a racino in Biddeford called Biddeford Downs, a racino on Passamaquoddy land in Washington County and a full-scale casino with table games in Lewiston.

The Biddeford project, which received overwhelming local approval last fall, involves moving the entire Scarborough Downs harness racing operation to city-owned land off Andrews Road on the western edge of town near the Maine Turnpike.

The $120 million project, according to developers Ocean Properties, Ltd. and Scarborough Downs, consists of a grandstand, harness racing track, resort hotel, a slots gaming facility and an entertainment center. They say the project would lead to more than 500 permanent jobs, both full time and part time, as well as about 800 construction jobs during the 18-month build out.

Not so, says Marc Worrell, a Biddeford resident and one of the founders of the local group Mainers Against a Rotten Deal, which formed earlier this year to fight Biddeford Downs. The group, according to spokesman and lobbyist Chris O’Neil, is a “couple hundred strong” with an email distribution list in the thousands. And, it’s website says, the group is composed of “a network of concerned Maine families opposed to the unrelenting onslaught of casino developers rushing to conquer Maine.”

“These projects are not about jobs,” Worrell said this week. “They’re changing the subject. It’s not about jobs. The real subject is expanding gambling. It was a close vote to approve the Oxford Casino and now we’re talking about going to five casinos before the second one is even built.

“All we want is to slow down and get the answers to our questions, like how many gaming facilities will be allowed, where will they be located, where the money will go and what the benefits will truly be,” he added.

Worrell and others who oppose the expansion of gambling, like the statewide group Casinos NO!, also said they’re frustrated that developers are “preying on economically depressed regions,” such as Biddeford and Lewiston, to get the projects approved.

“I’m not deceiving myself, I know the economy will be a factor for voters,” Worrell said. “But I think the question should be: ‘Is this the economic stimulus we want?’ And my answer to that question is no.”

Dennis Bailey, executive director of Casinos NO!, is not convinced by the argument that tying harness racing to slots gaming will save the industry.

“While it’s true that track owners, horse breeders and suppliers are benefiting from what amounts to a slots subsidy (from Hollywood Slots), it’s done nothing to bring people into the stands or generate new interest in the sport,” Bailey said in an opinion column posted on the Casinos NO! website.

Bailey claims that since 2005, the year Hollywood Slots opened in Bangor, the live handle has fallen every year but one and is now at a record low. He said even switching to free admission at Scarborough Downs hasn’t led to a rebound in attendance at harness races.

“Those pretty pictures of horses and hay barns are just an attractive veneer for the real goal of the Biddeford Downs campaign – legalizing slot machines,” Bailey added. “That may fatten the wallets of the casino owners and operators, but it’s a sure bet they won’t restore Maine harness racing to its former glory.”

While Worrell agrees there is a need for blue-collar jobs, such as the food and hospitality positions that will be available at Biddeford Downs, he also wants to see better, higher-paying jobs for Maine’s young people.

And, he doesn’t believe the jobs available at Biddeford Downs are the type that will keep students with college degrees in Maine. “I think Maine can do better,” he said.

Worrell is also concerned about the competition for limited gaming dollars, and doesn’t believe Biddeford Downs would be able to attract the type of clientele supporters are claiming will come once the facility is built.

But the developers are confident in their projections about the jobs and revenue the facility would generate, even with the possibility of the Lewiston casino being approved, and Hollywood Slots and the Oxford Casino up and running.

Ed MacColl, an attorney and spokesman for Scarborough Downs, calls estimates that the Biddeford project would bring in $30 million annually for the state’s general fund, as well as about $5 million for the city of Biddeford are “conservative.”

“We are confident that is a conservative estimate under any conceivable market competition,” agreed Pete Connell of Ocean Properties. “Plus this is all private enterprise. There is no risk for a huge reward.” In addition, he said, the jobs projection is based on “long experience and hard data.”

The backers of the Biddeford Downs project also argue that the facility would be owned and operated by two local, family-run businesses with a strong track record of success, unlike Hollywood Slots and the Oxford Casino.

Tom Walsh, owner of Ocean Properties, grew up in Bangor and employs about 1,200 Mainers a year in the luxury hotels his company owns here, including the Samoset in Rockport, according to materials created by the Yes on 2 campaign. Walsh runs the company out of its headquarters in Portsmouth, N.H., with the help of his four sons.

Sharon Terry, the owner of Scarborough Downs, is a Maine resident and has operated the more-than-60-year-old track since 2001, according to the campaign. In addition, the downs has always been a Maine corporation and all its officers, directors and managers, including Terry’s children, are all Maine residents, as well.

MacColl said the biggest difference between Biddeford Downs and Hollywood Slots is that the harness racing track would be “fully integrated” with the other attractions. In Bangor, the hotel, slots and dining facility are separate from the actual harness racing track.

He also said such integrated facilities in state likes Delaware and New York are doing very well.

“I can’t wait to get started on a facility that doesn’t exist anywhere else in New England,” Connell added. “Everything we do is top shelf and this will be a resort proper with amenities like swimming pools and a spa. It will have everything you anticipate when you go to a resort, whether you gamble or not.”

In addition to the jobs and the revenue it would produce, backers of Biddeford Downs also said the facility would help to save open space that’s now dedicated to horse farms and other agricultural activities that support horses, such as hay and feed farms.

“As the horses race for more purse money, you will see the farms enlarging and breeding better horses and hiring more people,” said Ernie Lowell, a blacksmith for more than 40 years. “(Biddeford Downs) is truly the salvation of agriculture.”

For Terry, having a slots gaming facility associated with harness racing “is necessary if the industry is going to survive.”

While she would have liked to remain in Scarborough, where she already owns 500 acres of land, Terry said she’s happy to be moving to a city where the leadership and the residents have been so welcoming. This is a far cry from Scarborough, where attempts to bring in slots were defeated twice following the statewide vote in 2003 that allowed Hollywood Slots.

In contrast, the Biddeford Downs project has received the unqualified support of Mayor Joanne Twomey since the project’s conception, and both Terry and MacColl said the city staff in Biddeford has been “very helpful,” as well.

To suggestions that Terry and Ocean Properties would move the racino to another community if Biddeford gets tough in its negotiations with developers, MacColl said, “We’re 100 percent committed to Biddeford. We are not shopping this project. It’s a fabulous location near the turnpike in a community that wants us and we have the full support of the city leadership.”

In terms of the racino in Washington County, MacColl said, the Passamaquoddy tribe would own it, but the tribe has yet to determine whom it will go into business with to develop and operate the gaming facility.

In Lewiston, Great Falls Recreation and Redevelopment LLC has said it would spend more than $100 million to build a casino with slot machines and table games in a former textile mill, known as Bates Mill No. 5, which has sat empty for years. Backers have said it would employ up to 800 workers during construction and about 500 after it opens.

The project has the support of the Lewiston City Council and the Lewiston-Auburn Economic Growth Council, who all say a casino will create hundreds of jobs, generate revenues for the state and city and serve as an economic stimulus for downtown Lewiston.

Back in Biddeford, MacColl said, “We believe we can create the best gaming location in the state. I can’t imagine turning our backs on the harness racing industry and the families who work so hard. I am very comfortable we’re doing the right thing.”

For his part, Worrell said, “things are going very well,” although he and other racino opponents are involved in “a David and Goliath battle” with backers of the project, including Ocean Properties, which has spent $50,700 so far on the campaign to get Biddeford Downs passed.

“It was a just to be on the statewide ballot,” he said, “even though they’ve outspent us 10 to 1.”

Kate Irish Collins, Sun Chronicle, October 2011


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